PPG II - The Importance of Friendship (Sequel)
by Limberj
Summary: Sequel to PPG - Family. This is book 2 out of 3 and is translated from the Swedish novel PPG - Vikten av Vänskap. There's a summer camp, a wedding and something that Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup (AKA Beatrice, Rebecca and Brooke) just can't believe themselves. There will be a storm, there will be confusion and there will be tears - and lots of them.
1. Facts about the characters!

**Facts about the characters**

 **Professor John Utonium**  
 **Birthday:** May 4, 1960  
 **Height** : 185 cm (6 ft.)  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Mother: Arabella, deceased father: George, Brother: Eugene, Daughters: Beatrice, Rebecca and Brooke, deceased daughter: Bunny

 **(Blossom) Beatrice "Betty" Utonium**  
 **Birthday** : August 22, 1992 ("born" 1998)  
 **Height** : 165 cm (5 ft. 4")  
 **Eye** **color** : Pink  
 **Hair** **color** : Orange  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Grandmother: Arabella, Father: John, Sisters: Rebecca and Brooke, Uncle: Euegene, deceased sister: Bunny  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Temperature/weather changing, Ice breath, Pink laser beams from eyes, Pink fire breathing

 **(Buttercup) Brooke Utonium**  
 **Birthday** : August 22, 1992 ("born" 1998)  
 **Height** : 160 cm (5 ft. 2")  
 **Eye** **color** : Light green  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Grandmother: Arabella, Father: John, Sisters: Beatrice and Rebecca, Uncle: Eugene, deceased sister: Bunny  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Rub hands together until creating a green fireball, Green laser beams from eyes

 **(Bubbles) Rebecca "Becca" Utonium**  
 **Birthday** : August 22, 1992 ("born" 1998)  
 **Height** : 167 cm (5 ft. 5")  
 **Eye** **color** : Light blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Blonde  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Grandmother: Arabella, Father: John, Sisters: Beatrice and Brooke, Uncle: Eugene, deceased sister: Bunny  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Ability to talk to animals, Super scream, Blue laser beams from eyes, Blue fire breathing

 **Arabella Utonium**  
 **Birthday** : March 12, 1941  
 **Height** : 155 cm (5 ft. 1")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Grey (dyed dark brown/dark red)  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : deceased husband: George, Sons: John and Eugene, Granddaughters: Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, deceased granddaughter: Bunny

 **(Brick) Luke Berger**  
 **Birthday** : April 9, 1992 (was created December 1998, then again April 1999, one year older)  
 **Height** : 178 cm (5 ft. 10")  
 **Eye** **color** : Red  
 **Hair** **color** : Dark orange/red  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Adoptive parents: Charles and Daniella, Brothers: Liam and Leo  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Ability to open locked doors, Invisibility  
 **Other** : Southern accent (Texan)

 **(Butch) Liam Berger**  
 **Birthday** : April 9, 1992 (was created December 1998, then again April 1999, one year older)  
 **Height** : 204 cm (6 ft. 8")  
 **Eye** **color** : Dark green  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Adoptive parents: Charles and Daniella, Brothers: Luke and Leo  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Ability to open locked doors, Strength  
 **Other** : Southern accent (Texan)

 **(Boomer) Leo Berger**  
 **Birthday** : April 9, 1992 (was created December 1998, then again April 1999, one year older)  
 **Height** : 190 cm (6 ft. 2")  
 **Eye** **color** : Dark blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Blonde  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Adoptive parents: Charles and Daniella, Brothers: Luke and Liam  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Ability to open locked doors, Ability to talk to animals  
 **Other** : Southern accent (Texan)

 **Dainton Hannigan**  
 **Birthday** : January 20, 1991  
 **Height** : 186 cm (6 ft. 1")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Dark blonde  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Father: Hank, Sisters: Wendela and Veronica

 **Mathilda Turner**  
 **Birthday** : April 8, 1992  
 **Height** : 172 cm (5 ft. 7")  
 **Eye** **color** : Brown  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : Native American  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Ginger Campbell**  
 **Birthday** : December 7, 1992  
 **Height** : 159 cm (5 ft. 2")  
 **Eye** **color** : Green  
 **Hair** **color** : Light brown  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Henrietta Price**  
 **Birthday** : July 26, 1992  
 **Height** : 167 cm (5 ft. 5")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Blonde (dyed black with pink ends)  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Jessica Ishihara**  
 **Birthday** : September 21, 1992  
 **Height** : 162 cm (5 ft. 3")  
 **Eye** **color** : Brown  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : Japanese/American  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Robin Snyder**  
 **Birthday** : March 13, 1992  
 **Height** : 165 cm (5 ft. 4")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Brown  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Brother: Christopher Snyder

 **Matilda "Tilly" West**  
 **Birthday** : October 10, 1992  
 **Height** : 168 cm (5 ft. 6")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Redish blonde  
 **Ethnicity** : American/Norwegian  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Zac Jones**  
 **Birthday** : July 14, 1992  
 **Height** : 182 cm (5 ft. 11")  
 **Eye** **color** : Ice blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Blonde (dyed black)  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Mother: Irene, Brother: Gordon, Sister: Jenna

 **Irene Jones**  
 **Birthday:** April 4, 1977  
 **Height:** 170 cm (5 ft. 6")  
 **Eye color:** Ice blue  
 **Hair color:** Blonde  
 **Ethnicity:** American  
 **Family:** Sons: Zac and Gordon

 **Gordon Jones**  
 **Birthday:** June 29, 1993  
 **Height:** 189 cm (6 ft. 2")  
 **Eye color:** Ice blue  
 **Hair color:** Blonde  
 **Ethnicity:** American  
 **Family:** Mother: Irene, Brother: Zac, Sister: Jenna

 **Sam Bailey**  
 **Birthday:** January 19, 1991  
 **Height:** 189 cm (6 ft. 2")  
 **Eye color:** Yellowish brown  
 **Hair color:** Dark red/Brown  
 **Ethnicity:** Irish  
 **Family:** Brother: Andrew, Sisters: Spring, Summer and Autumn, Mother  
 **Other:** Irish accent, look like a model


	2. Chapter 1 - Camp Waspbury

Hello! I would like to start this series off to reply to a comment I received on the last chapter of book one; and that comment was sent by **Ashuri** who said just the nicest of things! You said that the last chapter was beautiful and that you couldn't wait for the second book so... Here it is!

I will reply to every comment in the beginning of the chapters. Like; if you comment to this then I will reply to it in the beginning of chapter two!

Thank you for reading!

 **Camp** **Waspbury**

 **The** **Narrator**  
The City of Townsville!

The world's so far most famous city – due to the family living there; a family containing a scientist and his three daughters – the Powerpuff Girls.

The sun is shining and heating the roof tops; glistens in the river that runs through the parks and gives life to the growing, green grass. The citizens look forward to an outstanding summer this year. The kids have finished their schools for this semester and the ice cream trucks are busy, busy, busy.

In one particular neighborhood in the outskirts of the city we find Professor John Utonium and his daughters Beatrice, Rebecca and Brooke; with new efforts, new interests and new troubles.

 **Buttercup**  
One week into the summer break it was time for the final competition in cheerleading. It was going to be held in Seattle; so it was a short trip there with the squad from Townsville. And it was in the evening so I didn't even have to go up early.

Two p.m. Liam came over to personally wish me good luck; he said that it didn't sound good to call me on the phone when it's about a big thing like this. But he wasn't only wishing me good luck; he was going to participate in the competition as well – he and Jake volunteered at speech-day last week, so we had been training for five days straight with the guys.

It was said that the judges gave the teams with males the most points even though the guys didn't dance well… it was a cheap shot, but I really wanted to win this!

"See you tonight." I said to Liam at the door.

He gave me a long hug and leaned his cheek on my head since I was so much shorter than him. At the same time I heard a pack of dogs panting and several sets of nails clawing the asphalt; Becca was on her way home with the dogs.

Liam kissed the top of my head and chuckled and I backed away from him with a surprised expression on my face. He didn't even look at me, but a few inches above my shoulder and behind me. I turned around to see Zac standing with his hand on the doorknob to the downstairs' bathroom, staring at us.

"Yeah, see you tonight." Liam echoed with a jeer; still looking mockingly at Zac; and left.

I groaned. "He just wanted to tell me that-"

"Yeah- no- it's cool. I wasn't even thinking- yeah…" Zac went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

"Who was it?" Irene asked when I walked into the living room and sat in one of the couches to continue watching the TV with her and Gordon.

"Liam. He wanted to wish me good luck for tonight."

"That was so nice of him to come all the way here to do that."

"He was probably just in the neighborhood and decided to pay me a visit." I said and shrugged my shoulders.

The door opened again and Becca stumbled in with five dogs on leaches in her hands. Even though they were so many they were no match for her and her super strength.

"Were they behaving?" Irene shouted from the couch; she sat in the couch that didn't really have a view to the entry.

"They were really good. I just hope that they're tired now."

Becca had been in Townsville's dog park almost all day to let them run around and play and interact with other dogs. They had all the opportunity to do that on the countryside at Irene's house in Forestville, with a big enclosed yard; but here – in Townsville – you weren't able to just put the dogs out; because then they would be run over by a car. We did have a small enclosed backyard ourselves; but since Albert (Professor's favorite German Shepard) found out how to escape, all the dogs escaped every time we let them out there. Last week we had to chase after them a lot and even though Becca can talk to them they aren't really… smart. They forget a lot and get distracted easily.

Zac, who'd just left the bathroom, said hello to Becca, petted a few of the dogs who tried to jump on him and then sat in the chair in the living room to proceed to watch the TV.

"Is there any lemonade left?" Betty opened the door to her bedroom on the first floor.

"Was that Liam at the door?" Luke poked his head out from Betty's room.

Betty and Luke had spent almost every day with each other since the first day of the summer break, together with Dainton who also had become good friends with Luke.

"Yeah, but he left." I replied.

Betty flew into the kitchen, took three glasses from the cabinet and the jug with raspberry lemonade before walking back into her room again.

 **Blossom**  
Dainton and Luke partly sat, partly lied down, on my bed, leaning against the wall to show each other all the games they had on their cell phones. They were getting along much better than what I'd ever wished for. They had so much in common; both computer geeks; loved that zombie game they always played and found out that they had been playing in the same team lots of times without even knowing it; they loved some kind of sport (Luke American Football because he played in our school's football team and Dainton liked ice hockey… and the broomstick game from Henry Potter; Squidditch) and they both adored Quentin Tarantello – the producer to all the action movies Dainton tried to make me to like.

I sat on my office chair, drank my lemonade while looking out through the window. It was too sunny outside to spend the day inside. "Don't you want to go for a walk, or something? Maybe we could go to the beach?"

Sometimes you really needed to nag Dainton to go out, and now he'd found a friend that loved being inside as much as him.

Dainton said: "Soon, soon…" without even trying to pretend to be interested in what I had just said.

Somehow; in some miraculous way; I got them both out anyways and we took a walk to town. Next time I'll just call Mindy instead of these two!

 **Bubbles**  
Nowadays I was constantly tired and hungry, but Irene said that it was normal and that I just had to rest a few times during the day. In November I wasn't going to give birth to only one – but two babies; so my body needed to work extra hard to supply the fetuses with enough nutrients that they needed.

After the walk with the dogs I went up to my room to take a quick nap before Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica and Henrietta arrived, and my eyelids felt so very heavy and obediently fell down over my eyes just as my head hit the pillow. I rolled into a ball under the warm covers and felt the sleepiness pulling me deeper into the cheats.

Suddenly I felt a scent. A familiar scent that I haven't felt in months and the first picture that popped up in my mind was _his_ face. I had tried not to think about him since the speech-day, but that scent filled my bed and my head; but it disappeared just as fast as it had appeared.

I kept my eyes closed shut and waited for my heart to calm down before turning on my other side and try to fall asleep again. But I wasn't alone in the bed anymore…

My eyes popped open and immediately fixated on his face – it was _him_! He just laid there on my bed, on his back, looking straight up in the ceiling with a calm expression on his face. The sun shined on his contours; making all the small hairs on his pointy nose and chin to glow, and his blue eyes to sparkle.

I couldn't speak, couldn't utter a word… I just watched his face in awe and his chest calmly went up and down as he breathed. He slowly turned his face to look straight into my eyes, with heavy eyelids and a wide smile. His smile.

Everything in my body started to tingle, and explode, and-

Someone knocked on my door and I woke up. It had been another one of my dreams that subconsciously wanted to crush me.

"Are you sleeping?" Ginger whispered and poked her head in through the door.

I sighed and sat up. "You can come in." I knew that I would only feel worse if I was alone right now.

I told them about the dream. It had been three weeks now since I had dreamt of him last, but now the dreams seemed to be back and I just couldn't melt that he was gone.

"But you've been doing so well lately." Said Mathilda empathetically.

"He just doesn't deserve all of this, Becca, you need to forget about him." Henrietta patted me on my back.

"I'm trying…" I mumbled. "But it's harder than I thought. And now, with all these hormones…" I put my hands on my belly to show them what I meant. "It doesn't feel like I miss him anymore; it feels more like… they… are longing for him."

"That the twins want their father?" Ginger asked. I nodded my head and felt the tears burn in my throat.

"Oh, honey…" Mathilda leaned forward to hug me. "You'll get through this. He isn't worthy of seeing them once, even. Understand? He's not worthy of calling himself their father."

I just nodded again and sighed. The tears stayed in my eyes without starting to fall.

 **Professor**  
I spent the bigger portion of the days down in my lab. I tried not to show it but I was still trying to figure out what we would expect once Bubbles gave birth to the twins. Maybe they would turn out normal, or maybe they would also turn out stronger than my girls. It didn't worry me that they hadn't started kicking yet; I know for a fact that they're already moving inside her belly; it's just that she can't feel them because of her superpowers. It's really not that hard to understand what is happening… or, maybe it is. I just can't figure her pregnancy out.

Just… imagine a really hard shell, and inside that shell there is something soft and gooey, and I can't get through all of that hard shell, whatever I try. That's how I imagine Bubbles and the babies.

I was discretely examining Bubbles a few times a day by asking her to show me some of her basic powers like the laser beam, the flying, the strength and the ability to talk to animals. Right now everything seemed normal, and it seemed like she hadn't been affected by the part of Leo's DNA with the Antidote X.

All day I had been flipping through the many pages of old notes I had made about the girls through the years and tried to figure out several different theories and possibilities… but Irene stopped my febrile search for answers by telling me that we were going to Seattle soon to watch Buttercup compete in that cheerleader final.

 **Buttercup**  
It wasn't going to be a too long of a trip so I took the bus with my squad, Liam and Jake, and Professor drove behind the bus with Betty, Becca and Irene. Zac and Gordon stayed at home today.

"B! I haven't seen you in a while!" Tilly shouted as I boarded the bus.

"We practiced yesterday." I smiled and put the bag with my change of clothes on the shelf above the windows.

"Yeah, but summer is soon over and you've already missed several parties." Robin complained.

"The summer's just started but yeah, I know; I'm just really busy right now with Professor's wedding and stuff like that."

Becca didn't want anyone from our school to know that she's pregnant yet; so I didn't even mention that.

"Yeah, that's true." Robin muttered. "But tonight we will celebrate. Whether we win or-"

"Ah-ah-ah!" I warned her. "We _will_ win, okay?"

"Of course!" Amber, who was just getting on the bus, shouted.

"Hey, Brooke!" I heard a guy's voice shout and spotted Jake and Liam in the far back of the bus. I waved and smiled and then sat down next to Robin.

/The sun was shining the whole bus trip and started to set as we arrived to the studio in the middle of Seattle city. Hundreds of people walked from their cars to the arena and my family wished me good luck one last time before we separated outside the big building of PRO Sports Club.

Coach Terrence led us to a set of doors on the right side of the building from the grand entrance and we came into a long hallway with several doors on both sides. "Girls to the right and boys to the left", Terrence said, "but since you have two boys in the squad now, Brooke, it's okay that you practice in the boys' locker room. That does not mean that you take showers together, and Liam and Jake; I forbid you to go into the girls' locker rooms."

"Hey, come on, coach." Said Liam teasingly.

"Can we go in there if we're blind folded?" Jake asked.

"Oh, shut up!" said Robin and laughed.

"Just listen to coach!" said Tilly.

Coach Terrence smiled but tried hard not to, and after a few seconds he looked at Jake and lifted one warning finger between them. "If I see you in the girls' locker room, Green-"

"I'm only kidding!" Jake hurried to say.

"We know the rules." Said Liam and opened the door to the left. "We won't go into their locker room…" he looked at us girls and lowered his voice. "… but he didn't mention anything about taking showers together in the boys' locker room! So come in whenever y'all naked, girls!" he quickly ran into the room and Jake ran after him, both laughing maniacally and shut the door and locked it.

"I am serious, guys!" Terrence shouted through the door and banged on it with his fist. "I have the authority to kick you both off the basketball team!"

" _We promise!_ " Liam laughed.

" _You can trust us!_ " Jake laughed, as well.

"Just-" Terrence turned to face us.

"We will only practice, coach." I assured him. "And we will come straight to you if they behave badly."

"Good." Coach Terrence looked like he had gotten older than what he was when we left Townsville, and started to walk through the hallway. "Those guys are killing me." He muttered.

We walked through a door with a sign on it that said "Townsville High" and started to change into our dancing clothes, and when we were finished with that we walked across the hallway, knocked on the guys' door and got let in to start practicing. Jake had made yet another song for us and this time it was even better than the first one.

Eleven other schools were participating in the finals and they all had their performances before us. The average end points for the other squads were around seven out of ten, I calculated in my head, so I really hoped that this homemade song of ours and the fact that we had guys in the group was going to get those numbers to raise the roof. All the other songs were old and already used.

"And now, my ladies and gentlemen; our last contribution for this evening will be performed by the _super_ strong and _super_ skilled girls from Townsville High!"

We got our share of applauds when we entered the floor. All the other schools had been jumping around before their dances, but I felt that that it wasn't suitable for our performance so therefor we were all serious and calm when we took our places and positions.

I glanced over at Liam and Jake who stood on either side of the group of girls. I really hope that they don't screw this up! It was the first time for them to dance in front of an audience; but they had actually done darn good during practices this week. They were both really fast taught.

When we all stood still and waited, the whole room fell in darkness. A loud heart beat was heard through the speakers, the spotlights flickered and we all made a dance move. The second time the heart beat was heard the guys went behind our group to fetch a basketball each, and while some random noises and drums were playing in this dubstep part of the song, Liam and Jake dribbled with the basketball balls in the front. Once the reggae part played we did the rest of the dance. This was a really good song that Jake had composed.

I felt that this was our best performance ever. Even Liam and Jake, who weren't experienced at all, did a really good job and impressed everyone in the room. The suspense was killing me once we were done and stood in the corner of the room, waiting for the judges to judge. Three of them had given us nine points, one gave us ten but the last judge only gave us seven. No one had made a mistake during the dance so I don't know why he gave us such bad points.

One of them stood up and talked into the microphone. She started by thanking us all and then she read from the paper. "On third place, we have… Milwaukee High with forty one points!"

Everybody applauded while the Milwaukee squad ran to get their bronze trophy.

When they got back to their place the judge started talking again. "On second place…" she paused to create a bit of drama, and smiled to all the squads on the floor. "Exciting, eh? On second place; Townsville High with forty six points! Two extra points for the home made song!"

Even more people cheered us on as my squad jumped up and down before running to get our silver trophy that was a lot bigger than the bronze one. I lifted it up in the air and the audience cheered even louder. Then Liam, all of a sudden, picked me up and held me on one of his shoulders.

"I told you we were gonna get higher points if we used a homemade song!" said Jake when we got back to our places again and the judges prepared to announce the winners.

"Yes, you were right! Thank you, Jake!" I gave him a hug. I backed up so that I could look at everybody. "And thank you all, you're amazing, the lot of you. And you boys; I'm proud of you!"

We didn't win this time; but to get second place in America's biggest cheerleading competition wasn't something to just sweep under the rug.

We all directed our attention to the judge again who had started talking. "… so fun today. Thank you all for coming and making this day so very special for us all. And now, for the winners of Seattle PRO Sports club cheerleading completions two thousand and ten... with forty eight points… New York High School!"

"What? Two points less than _that_?" I exclaimed to my squad.

The New York squad's dance had been ordinary and even a little plain. But I guess it's what the judges like… I tried not to show my envy that nagged my insides when we went back to our locker room.

Coach Terrence took the trophy and told us that he would put it in the trophy cabinet for us to watch after the summer break, when we got back to Townsville again.

 **Blossom**  
I know that there's still several months left before you could start searching for colleges, but still I am that one person who is looking for them during the summer break. I looked through all the different brochures and booklets that Dainton had gotten in his mailbox when he first started searching. I spotted the brochure about the school he got into; Harvard. Should I also…?

I started flipping through the colleges abroad of America and remembered that I hadn't checked my email yet. But when I logged in on my pink laptop I saw that Dennis hadn't replied. In her previous mail she gave me a long essay of how they (she and the brothers Robin and Ruben) had found the perfect apartment in Honolulu with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. But the biggest portion of the mail was a rant about their landlady who was the biggest bitch in universe, apparently.

She also wrote that they hadn't gotten Internet in their apartment yet and that it's going to take a while; but she would run down to the local library to check her email once in a while. And that's why it would take a few days for her to write back.

I looked at the brochures that laid spread all over my bed again and saw the Harvard one. Did I really want to attend Harvard? Was it for me or for Dainton I would send an application? Professor had actually warned me about this; that I shouldn't apply to the same college as Dainton if it wasn't all for me… I guess he don't want me to do any mistakes.

Names of colleges in other countries around the world popped up when I pushed a few of the brochures aside; colleges from Europe like France and Italy and Great Britain; and from Asia like Japan and China… It would be so much fun to learn another language, even though it would only take a few days for me, I got excited as I thought about it.

/That afternoon I picked Dainton up at his house. We were going to a beach near the ocean in the west to sunbathe the rest of the day. We had packed towels and a blanket, and later we were going to eat at a café over there that had _the_ best hamburgers. Dainton was used to flying wherever he wanted in the world for free; only that it took more time to fly with me than with an airplane; so we couldn't go too far. His human body wouldn't sustain the g-force. And even though it was in the middle of the summer he had to wear several layers of clothes, a beanie, a scarf and ski goggles so that he wouldn't freeze from the swooshing air.

 **Professor**  
It's only four weeks until the wedding and we were going to get married in Irene's backyard in Forestville. We had only been planning the wedding for a week but it felt like we were ready with the theory; now all we had left was the practice – hire the people that would make this party running.

 **Bubbles**  
A few weeks before the summer break Susan Waspbury called my sisters and me and asked us if we wanted to work at the summer camp this year in Forestville; she liked us so much the last year that she couldn't come to think of anybody else to do the job. We all said yes, of course, it had been fun the first time around… and it was before I knew that I was pregnant.

"I think that you should go anyway." Betty simply said. "It's not like the twins will arrive tomorrow."

We sat by the table in our backyard in Townsville two weeks into the summer break, and drank lemonade.

"But the thing is; we need to teach young boys and girls about responsibilities and to have fun in the same time. What are they going to think about someone, not that much older than themselves, who preaches about these things while being pregnant?" I mumbled.

"It hardly shows." Brooke said. "But if someone gets nosey you can always tell them that you ate too much candy; scare them to eat better. Win – win."

I sighed, but Betty pursed her lips. "Not that you really need it; but you'll get money for these three weeks. And think of the owners; we three were the only people signing up for the job this year. We should be there tomorrow morning; it feels like it's a little too late to back out right now."

"You're both right. It's really not that noticeable, right?" I asked them and stretched my t-shirt over my belly. "With just the right clothes; maybe I could get away with being fat."

 **Buttercup**  
We didn't sleep at the camp the last year, but since Becca had to do it this year (she wouldn't have had the energy to drive back and forth) she had nagged me and Betty to sleep there as well. So we were all persuaded and sat in Professor's car seven a.m. sharp with our bags packed. I don't know how they got me up from my bed and into the car at that ungodly hour, but two hours later I woke up when the engine stopped in the middle of the woods.

"We're here, girls!" Professor said happily from the front seat. Betty, who sat next to him, unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the car.

I looked to my right where Becca should've been sitting, but both of us had fallen asleep during the trip and were leaning on each other above the middle seat.

We all stepped out in the warming morning sun and Professor turned to us all. "I'll be staying at Irene's for a few days if you need me. She lives a few miles _that_ way." He said and pointed with his whole hand and tilted his head when he looked at Becca.

"Okay, we understand." Betty said, ready like a girl scout. "Thanks for the ride, Professor."

He hugged her and I stretched; the car seat had really bruised my muscles and made my neck stiff.

A door opened and I looked at one of the cottages close to the small beach ahead of us; the Waspbury's headed our way to greet us. "Good morning!" they shouted when they got closer.

"You're early." Said Susan and stopped when she reached us. "The kids won't arrive until noon."

Betty must have heard me groan so she hurried to say: "We just wanted to be extra prepared this year."

"And just think how happy the children are going to be when they see you three again", said Philip, "you're really the favorites around here."

Phil's blue eyes shone with mirth and the wrinkles around them silhouetted when he smiled. He and Susan were perfect for each other; both in their forties with brown hair and blue eyes, both really tall and had the same wide and kind smiles. They didn't have any children themselves despite them being over forty years old; if it was by choice or something else I wouldn't even dream of to ask them.

The Waspbury's got to know Professor for a bit as well before he took off in the car again and Susan slammed her hands together. "Well then! Come with us to Big Cottage and look through some of the papers. There will be ten extra children this year and some of them have allergies."

"It'll be a little bit of a challenge, but I know that we will make it this year, as well." Said Philip.

"Are we the only ones here?" I asked them worryingly; I was in no mood of chasing after eight to thirteen year old brats all day long.

"No, we actually got a hold on three more people." Said Susan. "Two of our friends and a boy about your age. They'll be here soon too."

"Who's the boy?" I asked before I could restrain myself. We walked up the stairs and Phil held the door for us.

There were four cottages on these properties: The Big Cottage had the reception with the infirmary room just to the left when you go in; three big bedrooms; a TV room with a couch and a chair and a small walk in closet; one toilet and two shower rooms.

The second house was the canteen (Foody) where we and the children eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The third building was the girls' sleeping cabin (the Ladybug) and the fourth was the boys' (the Sea Bass); both with ten pairs of bunk beds each with room for twenty children in each sleeping cabin.

"He's Rickard's nephew." Susan answered my question. "Oh, what was his name, again?" she wondered and looked at her husband.

Philip went behind the desk and pulled out a binder from the bookshelf behind it. He started flipping through the pages. "Now, let's see… Beatrice, Rebecca and Brooke Utonium and… Sam Bailey."

"I've never heard of him." Said Betty.

"Me neither." Said I.

"He must attend one of the schools here or Citiesville or even Farmville." Said Becca.

"I hope he's not a snooty, spoiled townie."

"Don't judge him before you've met him, Brooke." Betty said with a strict tone on her voice.

 **Blossom**  
Sam Bailey took his own car to the camp. Philip and Susan's friends; Rickard and Celia Harris; arrived first without him and went in to the Big Cottage only seconds before a red Volvo turned into the parking lot (which actually was just a spot without grass outside of the Big Cottage). Brooke stiffened as she heard the car and looked through the window from the boys' sleeping cabin where she and I made the beds. When the engine turned off and a door was opened and closed she didn't do other than stare at the poor guy.

"What does he look like?" I asked her, a little uninterested.

"You wouldn't believe me", she said slowly, without looking away from him for a second, "but he must be a model or something."

I snorted. "Come on and help me with these beds, and then we can go and say hi."

Becca stepped out from the girls' cabin at the same time as Brooke and I got out from the boys', and all three of us steered our steps to the Big Cottage to greet the newcomers. We could hear the voices from five people talking and laughing from inside.

"Okay, just wait for a second, will you?" Brooke whispered, blocking our way so that we couldn't open the door. "He's mine, got it?"

Both Becca and I sighed; I with my arms crossed and she with her hands on her waist.

"I have a boyfriend."

"I am pregnant."

"Good." Brooke mumbled. "Good." Then she opened the door and entered the Big Cottage.

I didn't have to look Becca's way to understand that she had just the same face expression as I and Brooke had. She'd been right; that Sam Bailey must be a model. A model for beauty… He was tall, had wild sprawling, dark red hair… and we drooled just seeing his long, slender back and wide, muscly shoulders.

"Hey… Sam." He said with an accent when he turned around and shook Brooke's hand to introduce himself. What is it with all these guys and their accents that we girls always fall for?

Before I met this guy I was convinced that I would never meet a more beautiful person than Stan, but he was nothing compared to Sam. His smile was wider; his eyes were bright brown, almost yellow; and his jaws and chin were sharp and looked strong. Sam's face was just so perfect and symmetric; as if angels had hammered him from marble.

"Be-Beatrice…" I mumbled as I shook his hand.

I heard Becca whisper her own name but I just couldn't look away from his face. When I finally tore myself from his enchanting appearance I looked at Brooke who gave me an I-told-you-so-look, before she turned to Sam's uncle and his wife.

Just like the year before I was going to help Susan in the infirmary; Brooke was going to hold the canoe classes and all the physical activities, and Becca was going to lead the orientations and the forest excursions where she would teach the kids about the forest, animals and the nature. Philip Waspbury was the soccer coach, Richard Harris was the camp's chef and Celia Harris was going to run around and help where she was needed. We still hadn't found out yet what Sam's task was when the kids arrived; but that was because I had stopped listen whenever someone else than him was talking.

I finally heard that he was Irish. Sexy _and_ European – check!

 **Bubbles**  
The first day of camp wasn't going to be full of activities; but we were all going to sit around a bon fire; telling each other stories and get to know each other and have fun. I talked to the children sitting around me who all excitedly told me about what they wanted to do tomorrow, when I saw Sam heading to me with a wide smile.

"Can I sit there?" he asked me and pointed at an empty spot next to me where I sat on a log. I nodded and he sat down. I could smell him and the skin on his arm felt warm on mine. "It's so cool to finally meet you and your sisters." He said while looking into the fire.

It was eight o'clock and the smaller children started to yawn.

"Yeah? But we're not that special." I replied, tried not to stumble over my words as he made me so darn nervous. Why did he decide to sit so close to me?

"Oh, I don't know if I could agree on that – you're the world's most famous people; even more so than the pope! You're truly unique; your sisters and you; and for a good reason."

"Thanks." I giggled. "That was nice of you to say, but we don't like being treated differently."

"Of course. But can you promise me one thing? If I begin shrieking and beg for you to write your name anywhere on my body; would you then be so kind and throw me into the lake?"

I laughed; and that made Brooke look angrily at our direction. I knew that she liked him already, but I still thought that she behaved childish.

My laugh still got her to stand up and walk up to us. "So, Sam, what is your task here on the camp?" she asked him and whipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'll take care of all the athletic stuff, besides soccer, all the physical stuff, you know."

I just rolled my eyes; she'd never behaved like that before.

"Well, I'm kind of athletic, too; but tonight I have something better to do." Sam reached behind us, pulled a guitar from behind the log and stood up. "Hey, listen up!" he shouted over the bon fire and everybody fell silent. "Does anyone know this song?"

He started playing on his guitar and sang… of course he could sing, and his voice was angelic. When the kids started to sing a long he turned to me and winked at me; and that made Brooke to grind her teeth.

 **Buttercup**  
I didn't care what they said; if they said anything; but I wasn't just going to sit there and watch while Becca tried to steal the one guy I liked since Liam. Well, okay, I don't know Sam, but I feel that he is actually _someone_ , you know? He's a keeper. And I don't usually feel this way about guys. Sure; I like their appearances sometimes, but I couldn't talk with them if I didn't have a drink in my hand. But with Sam… it feels natural talking to him. He's so gorgeous!

The morning after the bon fire and his performance I sat down by the grownups' table in Foody to eat my breakfast. Betty, Philip, Susan, Richard and Celia companied me but Becca was still sleeping; she was still not used to her pregnancy-sleepiness. I was solemnly hoping that Sam would come to sit with us too, but he didn't show up either.

"Okay. Phil; you take group one after breakfast to the soccer field. Brooke; you teach group two to canoe, like last year, remember? Becca's group three are going to the woods in an hour… Sam… is already at the stables with group four." Said Susan while reading through today's plan papers.

"The stables?" Betty asked.

"Yeah, my friend owns a riding school only ten minutes from here and she lets us use her horses this week before putting them on summer pasture." Said Susan. "Sam is taking his group of kids on a horse back expedition. And you, Betty; you will be a lifeguard with me at the beach after breakfast. Becca is sleeping in, so we will have her group."

Susan was the only one who knew that Becca was pregnant, but she knew that professional secrecy was a fact when working with us Powerpuffs; so she wasn't going to tell anyone.

She continued: "Celia and Richard; maybe you could prepare for lunch? Make a food plan for next week? The plan for this week is on the counter in the kitchen."

I was still feeling a bit morose over that I hadn't talked to Sam this morning when I put my dishes on the dish counter; but I had a canoe lesson to plan so I couldn't sulk over that anymore. Maybe I could talk to him during lunch.

Before lunch started I was going to check the presence on my group and then paddle to a small island on the lake. Last year it took us one and a half hour to paddle there and back again. There were nine kids in this group; a bit more than what I had counted on but I knew that it would work for the better.

"So, who here has never paddled a canoe before? Raise your hand." I shouted over the beach where all the canoes stood on land.

The sun shined strong today – a great day for paddling! I began explaining the safety rules for them, as; you should never stand in a canoe if you're not stepping in or out, and you should never make the boat to rock. The kids listened attentively, and then I paired them together into twos. I knew that one of them would be alone, but that person could share boats with me.

"Okay, life jackets on; all aboard. What's your name?" I asked the nine year old with blonde braids and freckles that was going to sit with me.

"Robin…" she shyly whispered and looked down on the ground.

"Great name. One of my best friends is named Robin, too. I am Brooke. Do you want to paddle with me?"

She nodded, and we were the last people down in our canoe; and then we all paddled out on the big lake.

 **Blossom**  
"How's school going?" Susan, who sat next to me on the bridge, asked. We both had our feet in the water.

"It's going well, thanks. We just have one year left in Townsville High after the break, and then it's college for me."

"Wow, that's right. What college do you want to go to?"

"I don't know yet… I actually don't know what I want to do in the future. Professor would love if I pick science or medicine."

"I'm sure you'll find something soon. But do it for you, okay?" Susan patted my knee and I chuckled. "Are you still together with that boy, by the way? That D… something, you read about him in the papers sometimes. Was his name Daniel?"

"Dainton." I answered. "We're still a couple, and he'll go to college after summer break. Harvard."

"Wow…" Susan sighed, impressed while watching the kids who swam to the diving tower out on the lake. "Congratulations to him."

"I'll tell him. But I wasn't surprised at all that he got a scholarship. He's the smartest student in all of Washington. Well, second smartest."

"I suppose you're the smartest?" Susan teased and bumped into my shoulder with hers.

"Needless to say!"

"By the way; what an unusual name – Dayton." She said and squint her eyes from the sun. "Is he named after the city?"

"Dainton, with an N before the T." I corrected her. "I haven't actually asked- wait…"

I heard a dull sound from bubbles and a muffled shriek from the lake. I quickly flew out in the water and spotted the girl who was struggling under the surface. I pulled her out and flew her to the bridge where Susan sat with her arms reaching to us.

"Are you alright?" she worryingly asked the girl when I put her down next to Susan.

The girl coughed and said: "I didn't notice there was a pocket there."

"We're not having swimming lessons until tomorrow. Did you take the floating thingies off?" Susan asked her, angry and worried at the same time, when the girl sat up on her own.

She had only been under the water for a couple of seconds so she wasn't harmed.

"I thought that I could do it…"

"Well, you couldn't now, could you?" I said. "Come on, let's go get a noodle or something for you, and then we go to the more shallow parts where you can reach, okay?"

"Okay…"

"If you let go of them again you won't get any desert tonight, got it?" said Susan.

I went to the beach with the girl where all the foam rubber stuff was laying spread all over the hot sand. "What's your name?" I asked her.

"Kat."

"Katherine or Katrina?"

"No, just Kat."

"How old are you, Kat?"

"Thirteen and I can't swim. Pathetic, huh?"

She looked younger than thirteen, but I guess that appearances didn't matter. "No, not at all." I answered to her rhetorical question. "You want me to tell you a secret?" Kat watched me and waited. I lowered my voice: "I can't swim either."

"You can't?" she asked with wide eyes. "But you can fly and everything!"

"Exactly, I can fly under water so I have never had the need to learn to swim. For you, on the other hand…" I said and reached for a noodle on the beach where we stood. "… a normal girl without super powers; this will help you until you can stay _above_ the surface on your own."

Kat gave me a crooked smile and then went into the water again. It was kind of strange that a girl her age didn't know how to swim yet… did her parents never take her to any swimming lessons as a child?

 **Bubbles**  
My group containing seven kids were all very calm and… intelligent, actually. I wanted to teach them about the trees, birds and plants; but almost all of them already knew everything. I guess that's because more than ninety percent of them came from a school here in Forestville; so they were born and raised in this green forest landscape.

One of them, a nine year old boy with glasses, was especially eager to tell us everything about what he knew. "My dad is an ornithologist." He explained to me and corrected his glasses on his nose. "He takes me out every weekend to watch birds, take pictures of them and stuff like that. I am just as good as him."

"That's nice." I replied with a friendly smile. "It must be fun spending time with your dad, only the two of you?"

The boy, whose name was Felix and was kind of short for his age, just nodded without making a face.

"Alright, then. Let's stop here and rest and discuss everything we've learned today before heading back to the camp. I have fruits and juice with me for those who are hungry and thirsty." I said to the kids and sat down on a log.

I already knew of this little gathering spot; I had been here last year as well with my group I had back then. Some of this year's kids I knew from before; like the boy Felix; but some of them were all new faces to me and had no idea about the nature around the camp.

We all gathered and I handed out fruit and juice boxes to the kids and started the quiz: "Raise your hand if you know the answer; can someone tell me-" I stopped talking as I heard footsteps behind me in the forest.

Several horses were walking through the woods, and a voice echoed: "What is the name of this river?"

Another group of kids shouted their answers and the first voice laughed. It was Sam Bailey with his group that came riding on the path a hundred yards from our gathering place.

"Horses!" one girl from my group squeaked and she and her friend stood up to have a better look at them.

"Hello, Becca's group! What are you doing here out in the nature?" Sam asked us on his horse when they got closer.

"We're learning about trees and plants." A boy said bored.

"And birds!" said Felix.

"Wow, that sounds really fun! We were just on our way back to the stables but maybe we could take a break here first. I have sandwiches with me!"

Sam jumped off of his horse and waited for the others to do the same before sitting down next to me. Our groups mixed up when they all sat down on the logs to eat and rest.

"Apple?" one of the horses closest to me said.

"The horses want apples." I said to Sam.

"Can you talk to animals?" he joked, but got surprised when I nodded. "Oh, well then; tell them that they can get one piece each when we come back to the stables."

Maybe it seemed funny to everybody around me when I started to grunt and snort to the horses – who delightedly began stomping with their hooves – but in the same time they all got excited.

"Ask the white horse if I can pet it!"

"Ask the black horse if he knows what his name is!"

"Can you make the small horse to sit down on its butt? It's so cute when they do that!"

"There, there, calm down, you guys. We have time for that later. Right, Becca?" Sam said softly but enthusiastic. He was impressed too.

"Yeah, sure. Maybe we could merge these two groups together one day, and I can talk to the horses for you." I said and the kids started to cheer. "So how's the first day going?" I asked Sam and took a bite of my pear.

"Actually really good. My kids listen to everything I say and know how to respect the horses. Am I right, Wild horses?"

His group shouted: "Yes!" together.

"Wild horses?" I asked him.

"That's our name. ' _Group four'_ sounded really boring. Give your group a name. Go on."

"Oh, I don't know…" I mumbled shyly. Sam gave me a look that was all too familiar to me; but I just didn't dare thinking of why it was so familiar.

"Hey, how about _The Bird-watchers_?" he asked my kids.

"For starters; it's not _bird-watcher_ , it's _ornithologist_ ", Felix said, "and we're not _only_ looking for birds, we're also-"

"Oh, shut up, Felix…" another, bigger boy, mumbled.

"Jacob!" I warned him. "Apologize, immediately! We don't say stuff like that to each other."

"I am sorry…" he whispered and looked down on the ground.

Sam broke the silence that followed. "So what do you think about _The Explorers_ , then?" he smiled wide and encouraging to my group. "Wouldn't that be cool? Just like Indiana Johnson, right?"

Jacob looked at Sam with big eyes. "Yes! Let's be _The Explorers_!"

The others agreed and laughed and I turned to Sam. "You're really good with kids." I said while my group excitedly discussed their new name.

"Oh, they love me." He answered with a self-assured tone on his voice. "I have four younger siblings that I've been raising almost all by myself. But I just couldn't let my mother work herself to death so I've been taking a few odd jobs here and there to help her support the family." I was astonished by how much Sam opened himself for me already; someone he met only one day ago. "It's my first time here at Camp Waspbury, but it already feels like I won't find anything better than this when it's over in three weeks, either."

"What school do you attend when you're not working? I haven't seen you in Townsville."

"I went to Citiesville High school, but I finished one year ago."

"Then you're nineteen."

"Yep."

"No college?"

"Nah… I got into some public college in Portland, but since my father left my mother with us children I've become some kind of extra parent to my siblings. I would never dream of leaving them in the lurch for a school; even if it was a good college I would never do it. I actually got into another school as well, if I should be honest… Ivy League. But, like I said…"

I fiddled with my half eaten fruit while looking at it, didn't have anything to say. I just couldn't understand how much Sam had given up for his mother and siblings; he had sacrificed himself for them; turned down an Ivy League college for them.

"You're a good brother… and a good son."

"Thanks, but that's not the only thing I'm good at. If you tasted my filé mignón you would never have wanted to eat anything else ever again."

"Well, then let's not come to that; I love my father's bean stew too much."

Sam laughed and put his arm over my shoulders, pulled me closer to him and then stood up. "Wild Horses, are you ready to get going? We need to be back at camp in thirty minutes and these horses wants to be groomed."

With a last glance at me he grabbed two green apples from the bag lying in front of my feet, walked to the horses and smoothly mounted the horse he had been riding on, with one of the apples in his mouth and the other in the pocket of his hoodie.

 **Buttercup**  
On our way back to the beach again the majority of my kids started to grow impatient. They complained about being warm and tired and hungry. I tried to explain to them that it'll go faster if they didn't whine; but it was like they only listened halfhearted.

"How is she? Your friend." The blonde girl in front of me asked who I shared canoe with.

"She is… inventive. Really honest and kind."

"What is her best quality?"

"She's a really good dancer… and singer."

"Oh, I dance too!"

"Are you taking lessons?"

"Ballet." The shy girl quickly looked back at me and then forward again.

"For how long?" I asked.

"Two years. But I got to go up to the advanced group; so I dance with girls one year older than me."

"Wow, then you must be really good! Do you wanna show me something when we come back to the camp? I can show you a few moves too."

"Do you also dance?" her voice shone up a bit.

"Me and my friend Robin are cheerleaders in our school."

"Oh, wow, then you need to teach me!"

"Yeah, let's teach each other after lunch."

"Yeah!"

After I had pulled two messy boys from the water (they had started to wrestle in the canoe just before we reached land) I and my group headed to Foody to eat lunch. Betty, Becca, Susan and Sam already sat at the grownups' table, so I steered my steps to them after getting my meal that was spaghetti and meatballs (or _Lady and the Swagger_ as the menu outside stated).

"How did it go, Brooke?" Susan asked when I was within earshot. "Did the kids behave?"

"They're not really that hard to handle, but the way home was a bit troublesome for them. Chris and Tyler thought we were playing water polo." I sat down next to Betty.

"Ohh… I hope they weren't too much to handle?"

"Nah, they're alright." I shrugged.

"Did they think it was fun other than that?" she asked, worried if she would have to cancel the canoe trips.

"Oh, they better have _loved_ it or else they would have to answer to me." Sam growled loud enough to make two girls from my group to giggle as they passed us.

"You're the girls' favorite, huh?" I joked.

"I'm everybody's favorite. Right, Becca?"

Becca swallowed a big chunk of pasta that she had just put in her mouth. "They love him."

"Do you have any siblings or are you just _that_ good naturally?" I asked him.

"Triplet sisters and a brother. All younger than me."

"What a coincidence!" Susan exclaimed. "What are their names and how old are them?"

"Spring, Summer and Autumn are eight years old. They wanted to sign up to this camp next summer. And Andrew is one year younger than me, so he's too old to go to a summer camp."

"Wasn't he interested in working here?" Betty asked.

"Yeah, that would've been so much fun!" Susan joyfully said. I hadn't seen her in any other mood than happy before.

"Nah… He's in a band which is starting to become more and more famous in Citiesville. They have gigs on almost every club almost every night. And this year they're going to perform at the festival here in Forestville."

"What kind of music are they playing?" I asked him, astonished as I knew just what festival he was talking about. "Do we know who they are?"

"Some kind of mix between rock and punk, I think…" Sam replied; he really sunbathed in the attention we gave him. "… but other stuff too. They're called _Joshie and the Beans_ , but don't ask me why!" he laughed.

No… fucking… way.

"Are _Joshie and the Beans_ going to perform at the summer festival here in Forestville July sixteenth?" I asked again and Sam nodded. "Shut up! ' _Scream and Crash_ '? Are they going to play their music there?"

"Yes! I told you they're getting more popular." He chuckled.

"And your brother is one of _the Beans_?"

Sam laughed and nodded again; delighted over my reaction.

Once we all had eaten I followed Sam though the door. "What are you going to do on the break?" I asked him, but I started to realize what a bandage I was behaving like and felt a little ashamed. But not enough.

"I was thinking that I should play a little on my guitar before soccer practice in thirty minutes."

"Why don't you play in your brother's band? I mean, you're really good."

I still couldn't let go of the fact of his brother and the band that I had started to like. It was almost like I wanted to show Sam the play list on my cell to show him that I was a hard core fan of _the Beans_. I would do just about anything to get closer to him now – I could use him as a boyfriend _and_ a ticket to meet the band.

"Thank you! But no, I don't want to be in a band. Their music isn't really my style."

"You're style is… to play children's songs at summer camps?"

Sam looked down on his feet where we walked on the path to the Big Cottage. "Wouldn't that be something, huh? Travel from school to school and camps all over the state and play songs for children? Maybe I should focus on becoming a music teacher. No… I just like to play my guitar; see what's coming out of it, you know? The feeling."

"I see what you mean."

We had reached the Big Cottage and stopped outside of it. Sam turned to me. "Do you play any instrument?" he asked.

"I played bass when I was younger; but I've forgotten how to."

"You can try on my guitar for a bit?"

"No… I don't know…" I said shy.

"Yes, wait here and I'll get it for you!"

In five whole minutes we sat together on the staircase outside of the Big Cottage and played on his guitar and laughed. It felt incredibly easy to talk to him, and that was just what I was looking for in a guy. But just before we bounded any deeper than that, Robin; the little freckled, blonde girl; came and interrupted us; she wanted to show me some of her ballet moves.


	3. Chapter 2 - Moonlight swim

Oh, wow, I already have a comment and a follower/favorite! Welcome, **ChaCharleeno** , and thank you so much for reading this! I will try not to disappoint you as I translate :)  
And thank you, once again, **Ashuri** , for the review! I'm so happy that you liked the first chapter and I love reading comments from y'all!

 **Moonlight swim**

 **Blossom**  
The first week was always the slowest, and then it would just speed up until the camp closed for the season. It was especially chaotic now that the sleeping cabins were packed out. After the first week almost every single one of the forty children had visited the infirmary and had their arms, legs and foreheads patched up by Susan and me. But during the second week, the one who'd been there the most was the little girl who didn't know how to swim.

"This is the third time you're in here today, Kat. What happened this time?" I asked her when I saw her sneaking through the door with her hand on her elbow.

"Tyler pushed me at soccer practice."

"Did he do it on purpose?" I tried to think of a way to punish him.

"I think so…" Kat mumbled. "We were both running for the ball… I don't know. He said he was sorry, but why did he do it?"

"Come, let's have a look at that. You know what they say about boys, right? They show it in a weird way; but I think that Tyler likes you."

I cleaned her wound while humming a song. Susan and Philip were at the store in Forestville to buy a few things for the breakfast tomorrow since the delivery truck was going to be late.

"What song is that?"

"Oh…" I smiled. "It's mine and my boyfriend's song, but I don't remember the name of it."

If I had found it out then I would've remembered – considering my faultless photographic memory – but I had deliberately avoided to figure it out because I liked getting surprised whenever I heard it on the radio or in the shopping mall – it was the faith who played it for me; I liked to think.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

"What does it feel like to kiss a boy?"

I put a bandage on her elbow and looked at her. "It feels… soft." I felt embarrassed and stood up to put the box of bandages away. "You sort of get butterflies in your stomach and… it feels like it shudders in your backbone… and you get warm."

"Does it feel like that to have sex, as well?"

My whole body stiffened as I realized what she was asking and I just stared at her, almost choked on my saliva. "Uhm, I don't know." I blurted out, buckled my lips and sat down on the chair across to her. "Maybe you should talk to your parents about… _that_."

"My dad is dead and my mom is never home. It's my sister who takes care of me, but she's working all the time so I can't ask her, either."

"Don't you- don't you have anyone to care for you?"

"Not really. I do my homework when I come home after school, cook my own dinner and then go to bed."

"And nobody's home at all by then?"

"They don't have time for me. Why do you think that they send me here every summer? Soon I'll be too old and would only be in their way at home."

"Kat…" I put my hand on hers and she looked straight into my eyes with her brown. "Do you need to talk to anybody about this?"

She shrugged her shoulders and stood up. "Thanks for the arm." She said as a smile ripped up her face. "I'll go and push Tyler."

She ran through the house and opened the door. "In a hurry somewhere?" I heard Sam ask, who'd just entered the Big Cottage. His steps crackled in the wooden floor until he reached the room where I still sat on the chair. "How's it going in here?"

I really didn't want to talk about what Kat had told me about her family; that's something I was going to discuss with the person who'd pick her up by the end of the camp season. "Kat had her elbow fixed and I think that I accidentally made her a little bit too… interested."

"Interested in bandages?" Sam laughed, sat down on the office chair and started spinning around on it. "Or in scabs?"

"In… sex." I whispered.

"Aw, that's cat!" he said, using an Irish slang I didn't really understand, with a chuckle. "How did that happen?"

"Well, first she asked me what it was like to kiss a boy; and I thought that it would be fairly innocent to explain for a bit… then she asked me it was the same as having… yeah."

Sam laughed harder, and when he calmed down he looked at me with wide eyes. "Your face can't get any redder, can it?"

"Oh!" I angrily mumbled and turned to the window, away from him.

That Sam Bailey wasn't as attractive anymore!

 **Buttercup**  
The end of the second week was closing in on us and I discovered something… interesting. On the night to Thursday I woke up from the neighboring door closing shut; and then I heard creaking steps on the wooden floor going to the front door of the Big Cottage. I got curious as of who it was and looked out the window since the steps continued to the back of the house.

I watched the time on my cell, it was three a.m., and then I looked at Betty and Becca who still slept deeply.

Outside our window walked Sam, all alone, down to the beach and the wharf. He took all of his clothes off and his skin got pale, almost white, from the glowing moonlight. Oh, man, that bod! Tall and slender but still muscular, and somehow soft.

He sat down on the wharf and slowly hoisted himself down in the water, swam around for a bit and then lifted himself up on the wharf again. And then he just sat there.

After that night I woke up every time I heard his door shut, like some natural alarm, and every night I looked out the window to watch him.

 **Bubbles**  
The second week flew by faster than I'd expected. It had only been two rainy days this entire stay; other than that the sun was adamant and inevitable.

On Tuesday, on the third and last week, all four groups and all the leaders took a walk to a big field where we would have different activities all day long; including quiz orientation and baseball. By nightfall we were going to sit by the fire and grill hot dogs and marshmallows, and the walk back to the camp again. If that wouldn't make the children tired, then I don't know what would.

The day was fun for everybody and the kids had a nice experience. The only strange thing that I was thinking about was that Sam behaved weird towards me. Not that I actually cared; but he wasn't as flirtatious as he had been earlier. Well, I think that I cared a little… He didn't look at me the entire evening and sat as far away from me as he could during the grilling of hot dogs and marshmallows. What changed?

 **Blossom**  
I truly adored all the kids groups since I didn't have my own like Becca, Brooke, Sam and Phil did; but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing – I got to know every one of them instead of just one small group and they were all so happy! They seemed especially happy about to get to know me as well; some of them considered me as their biggest hero. Well, of course they saw Brooke and Becca as heroes too – because we are – but in some way, the person the children were most excited to be around was Sam. He was really popular amongst them for some reason. His group stayed loyal to him through fail and foul, and they would say that they had the best group leader, and that tended to start a war on who would kick whose butt… then Brooke's group usually won.

"Phil is so strong and tall and he would win a running contest!" a boy from Phil's group told everyone that wanted to hear. And that's when it started.

"But Becca would send all the animals on Brooke! Even the sharks!" a girl from Becca's group shouted in the canteen one evening.

"Beatrice would beat them all in a math test!" Kat shouted across the room.

"Whose side are you on? You're in my group!" the first girl was laughing.

"Brooke would beat all of them with just one punch!"

"Sam is the best!"

The sound from a small bell rang in the far back of Foody where you put the dishes after eating up, just before I stood up to try and calm everyone down. Everyone got quiet and looked at Phil who put the little bell down again.

"Please, be silent." He said in a low and quiet voice. He looked around on the little faces and a grin started to form on his lips. "If someone would beat anyone's butts then it should have been me."

The children started cheering, booing, and laughing immediately again.

Phillip came to the grownups' table and sat down next to his wife, still with the kids almost rioting in the background. "We let them roar up a bit the last week of the stay; then they'll get tired when they go to bed tonight." He explained to Sam, Celia and Richard – who weren't here the last year.

"Are the cakes ready?" Susan whispered during the kiss she gave her husband on the cheek. He nodded discretely.

"Cakes?" Brooke asked.

"Just a little surprise for them." Phil whispered back.

Because of all commotion in the canteen we didn't notice the little girl that had approached the table and now stood next to me. "Betty?" Kat asked and I turned to face her.

"What is it, sweetie?" I asked and pulled her down in my lap.

She gave me a long and tight hug before running back to her seat again with blushing cheeks.

"Aww…" Becca, Susan and Celia sighed.

"Wow, story?" Sam laughed next to me.

"I don't know." I said with a wide smile. "Or… I've tried to teach her to swim this week; but she never really got a hang on it."

"She's thankful that you even tried." Said Susan. "Her… parent… well, I don't want to talk behind their backs, but… Kat's never wanted to have any help from anyone here before."

"You're a natural, Betty." Sam said teasingly and bumped into my shoulder with his. "You always know just what to say!"

I realized that he was teasing me for what happened in the infirmary earlier today, so I just grinned back to hide the fact that my annoyance for him only grew.

After eating the cakes, which were greatly appreciated both from kids and grownups, it was bedtime for all. We already knew that the children were going to have a sugar rush and the last days of camp always meant one thing – mischief and pranks – and the staff always let the kids do it.

/Last year the boys had pulled a hose into the girls' dormitory and turned ice cold water on, and my sisters and I had to blow dry the poor girls and their beds and belongings. One hour later the girls ran over to the boys' cabin and began clawing the door, windows and walls (and the roof as Brooke, Becca and I helped them) which lead to making the boys storm out screaming about ghosts and monsters.

I had gotten surprised when I got a call in the middle of the night from two girls whispering into the phone, telling me about what the boys had done. Somehow they had succeeded to sneak into the Big Cottage and found my phone number. They had also pleaded us to help them take avenge on the boys… plus they were soaking wet and cold.

/This night Brooke, Becca and I sat on our beds, making us ready for a mischievous night; but decided not to eavesdrop on any plans out there in the sleeping cabins.

"It'll be fun to see what they're going to be up to this time." I said with my arms under my head as I lay down in my bed, closing my eyes.

"I hope they're not doing anything dangerous." Said Becca, who crawled underneath her own covers.

"Well, _I_ hope they will!" said Brooke. I felt that she was sick and tired of the lack of monsters and villains to fight these last few years.

"We'll soon notice what the prank will be. Time to sleep now." I reached to turn the ceiling light off as my bed was closest to the door. "It's half past eleven and we need to be up early tomorrow."

"Good night." Said Becca sleeplessly, as if she was already on her way of falling asleep.

"Good night." I replied with a tired sigh.

"G'night…" Brooke crotchety mumbled.

 **Bubbles**  
The sound of footsteps woke me up and my eyes popped open. I felt too tired to see what the kids were up to tonight, but I knew that maybe I was going to be forced to help with the mess (Betty had said that I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night, but I couldn't remember that in the drowsy state I was in); so I looked to my left to see what the time was.

After a few fumbling seconds in the darkness I spotted two figures by the window. First I thought that my brain was playing tricks on me, but then I discovered that it was Betty and Brooke. They just stood there… I guess that they had woken up for the same reason as I had; and now they were quietly and intensely looking at what the kids was doing outside.

I floated up from my bed and stood behind them to look out of the window as well. They were both a little shorter than me so I could look through between them, above their heads, almost. It was a beautiful starry night outside; the stars and the moon were reflected in the lake only a few feet from the Big Cottage where our bedroom was. I squinted my eyes and looked around over Brooke's other shoulder; I just couldn't see the kids. Just as my vision was corrected from my drowsiness I saw another figure out on the wharf… a man.

I gasped. It was Sam! All nude! And my sisters were staring at him!

"Betty! Brooke!" I wheezed.

They both jumped. Betty quickly turned around and Brooke closed the curtains.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked them accusingly. "Why are you watching Sam? In his- in his birthday suite?"

"I, uhm…" said Brooke.

"Brooke said that, uhm… then Sam was there…"

"We didn't know what he was doing…"

"I thought that it was the children…"

"Just drop it!" I stopped them both. "What Sam is doing over there is no one's but his business. Don't you think that he's there for a reason? Maybe he wants to be alone! Shame on you! And you, Betty; you have Dainton!"

Betty's face turned several shades darker and she was under her covers again in a heartbeat.

"Hey, come on, we were just looking." Said Brooke and went to her bed.

I just sighed and crawled down into my own bed, and after a few dead silent seconds we all cracked up and began laughing hysterically; each in our own beds; and it was hard to calm down again. What a silly situation, and how silly I was who had gotten so angry and how silly of my sisters to actually get ashamed.

"Oh, man, Becca; did you really say 'birthday suite'?" asked Brooke.

"Yeah, I guess so. Why did I get so mad, again?"

"Yeah, why did you?"

"Maybe it's the hormones. I'm kind of weird nowadays."

Betty, who finally had the courage to talk again, said: "Maybe your hormones make you weird, Becca, but no one is weirder than the naked man outside our window."

We all started laughing for the second time, and before I knew it I had fallen into a deep sleep again.

And of course I couldn't avoid but to dream about weird Sam… and his not so weird body.

 **Blossom**  
With or without sugar, the children hadn't made a single prank during the night and eight o'clock the next morning we all ate breakfast in Foody. Susan was handing out the to-do-lists to us camp leaders and told us a little bit about what we were going to do.

"… and tomorrow will be a secret for everybody except for Phil and me. It will be so much fun!"

"Come on, Sus, you can tell me everything." Said Sam with a twinkle in his eye.

"You're too young to have that look on your face!" Susan giggled patronizing while pinching Sam's cheek as he chuckled.

I caught a quick glimpse from Brooke and we both looked away. Either of us dared to say a word to Sam the rest of breakfast.

It was Thursday and tomorrow we were going to have a party here at the camp; but no one except for Susan, Phil and apparently Richard knew what we were going to do. And Saturday everybody will go home again… and I was going to talk to Kat's mother or whoever was coming to get her…

 **Buttercup**  
After the beach ball with my group of kids, I had half an hour for myself before taking Becca's group out canoeing. I really enjoyed the sun now at the start of summer, but I felt that I really should cool myself down by taking a cold shower. I don't like swimming around in lakes and oceans.

So I grabbed my towel, clean clothes and my shower products from my pack, and steered my steps to the shower rooms. But before I reached the two doors I slammed into someone in the hallway.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry!"

I always had the fear in the back of my head of accidentally hurting people because of my superpowers. So I usually found myself automatically apologizing even though I knew that the other person wasn't harmed.

I bent down to pick up the bottle of conditioner that I had dropped on the floor, and when I stood up again, no longer than a second later, stood nobody less than Sam in front of me. He had just taken a shower himself in the other shower room, and now stood in front of me; wearing only a colorful towel concealing the lower half part of his body; the upper half was tanned and shiny.

"No, it was _my_ fault."

"Oh…" I breathed embarrassed and felt my face getting warmer.

His perfect pecks shone of water; the muscles on his arms tensed up in surprise; the veins on his hands were high lit and were almost pumping from the heat. The heat… Actual heat beamed out from his body and he smelled like some kind of soap and shampoo.

The hairs underneath his bellybutton were still damp and wait… is that SpongeBilly SquarePants on his towel? And the body part that was under one of Billy's eyes was Sam's… Oh, my, oh, my… His six-pack flexed as he inhaled to speak:

"My eyes are up here, Brooke."

I jumped from the words. Had I really stared that long at his body so that he could get away with that comment? I looked straight into his chuckling, smug face with the wide smile and wet, wild, dark red hair that dripped. One drop landed on his perfect cheekbone but kept sliding and finally landed on one of his muscles on his belly. I looked up again and saw his playful, yellowish brown eyes looking into mine with raised, questioning, thick, dark eyebrows. His full upper lip quivered.

It was like I had forgotten the art of speech, gotten insane. Where did this shyness come from? I really couldn't utter a word and just stared into his eyes with burning cheeks, afraid to reveal what I had already revealed – that I so very indiscreetly looked at him and got aroused. What was my excuse? It was impossible for me to get away with this now; I had stared at every part of his body for a very long time now!

I remembered the last night, and all the other nights before, when he had taken all of his clothes off and took a swim in the lake. Oh, why did I remember that now?

And still I hadn't said anything! How long had it been now? Twenty seconds? Thirty seconds? Two whole fucking minutes?

Sam tilted his head to the side and looked at me with worrisome eyes, but his teeth was still shown; locked in his wide and polite but unsure smile. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Was the only thing I could say. Yes?

"Did you see anything you liked?" he then asked, smug again.

"Pshaw!" I wheezed and just stormed past him to the shower room.

I breathed heavily as I entered the shower and turned on the cold water that rinsed my all too hot body. For some reason, while I stood there and tried to cool myself down, I started thinking of Liam. The cold water didn't make sense so I turned the knob to make it warmer.

Liam didn't get out of my head, how much I tried to get rid of him, so I took a quick shower and flew to Townsville. I flew around the Berger house and landed on the side of it, went down the stairs to the basement and knocked on the door leading to his bedroom. It was a wild guess since it was a beautiful warm day, but… I hoped that he was home. Steps were heard from the inside, I bet that he was playing some stupid computer game just before I knocked.

"Oh, what are you doing here?"

He had cut off that Mohawk of his and let the hair on the sides grow; now he actually looked like a normal person if it wasn't for the piercing in his eyebrow. I liked it. And by the way; Oh. My. God; what a hottie! It was like I had forgotten about Liam's dark green, mysterious eyes and pointy nose and full lips; or maybe it was the meeting with Sam that had triggered my memory of Liam this way. Sam was nothing compared to Liam anymore. I just couldn't believe that this person, standing in front of me, had been _my_ boyfriend once! Why did we break up again?

"I was just flying past this neighborhood so I thought that maybe I should visit you." I went in without waiting for an invite.

"Don't they need you at the camp?" wow, even his southern accent was sexy now. "The kids are possibly trashing the place as we speak." Liam chuckled, passed me in the doorway to his bedroom and sat down on his chair by the computer.

I didn't answer; I was here for a reason. I closed his door, locked it, and headed to his chair (he had already turned to his game again). I sat astride over his legs and let the wet hair caress his face. I looked deep into his eyes.

"Oh." He said a bit surprised, smiled and pulled my face closer to his.

 **Blossom**  
"… will be coming home Saturday, I promise you to give you a good neck rub." I said with as much love in my voice as I possibly could.

" _Do you promise?_ " Dainton asked pitifully.

"Absolutely. And maybe a few kisses, as well…" I lowered my voice as two ten year old girls passed me and giggled.

Dainton sighed on the other end of the phone. " _I miss you so much._ "

"I miss you too… more. But, hey, I need to go." I said as the dinner bell rang.

Dainton had also heard it since he quickly said: " _Can't you come by tonight? My shoulders and neck really hurts._ "

I pondered theatrically. "Okay. I'll fly when the kids has gone to bed."

" _Yes! I love you._ " He said as the second bell rang through the area, echoing in the forest and over the lake.

"I love you too. Bye."

We hung up and I started walking to Foody to eat dinner with the rest of the people here, and since I could fly I was first in the canteen so I could take food without wrestling with the kids that now were gushing into the canteen in bigger groups. They were loud and full of laughter, but that was common as it was the last couple of days here at camp. Tomorrow was the last day, so the staff let them all be so that they could sleep well tonight.

"They _have_ to do something tonight or else the little beasts will ruin the tradition!" Sam whispered when he came to sit down at the grownups' table.

My sisters and I already sat down but only Brooke had started to eat. Becca and I usually waited for the Waspburys.

"Why does it bother you?" Brooke mumbled as she took a bite of her sandwich. She sounded irritated. "You're not a veteran like me, Betty and Becca."

"Maybe I'm not…" he distractedly mumbled, but his brown eyes shot lightings of excitement. "And speaking of that; your sister is so randy for me in the nips that she forgets how to open her trap!"

I quickly rendered my logic mind to translate Sam's Irish slangs into English words. Did he just say that Brooke had seen him naked – and he knew of it – and that she had been speechless in his presence?

"What?" my sisters and I all exclaimed in one mouth.

Becca and I reproachfully looked at Brooke; she looked like she was choking on her food while the blood seemed to leave her face; while Sam unconcernedly dug into his food. He looked up on us and chuckled excusing.

Now I have to prepare, I thought tactically. Is Brooke going to attack him right away or is she going to sit and roar up first?

"What are you talking about?" Becca asked, still with wide eyes. She wasn't as worried about Brooke's temper as I was.

"She was on her way to the showers earlier today while I had already finished and was on me way out." He said slower in a much more sensible tongue. "She ran into me and I had only a towel around me body, and she couldn't stop staring."

"You really needed a reason to tell that story, didn't you?"

I was amazed over how calm and level-headed Brooke behaved. Although she had a really bad temper; I never knew of this calmness of her in comparison.

Sam burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, Brooke; but you should've seen your face." He continued his sentence by locking up his eyelids, tilting his head and brainlessly watching an invisible body in front of him with open mouth.

"Mm. Hilarious. Really mature. You know that you suck, right? You suck, Sam." Brooke muttered and Becca joined the laughter.

I pulled a gentle smile but constantly tried to register every change in her mood to see if her reaction changed when she saw that Becca had started to laugh as well. But maybe I had been wrong about her?

Maybe I wasn't able to see the small changes in her mood? Maybe there wasn't a pattern… Didn't I know Brooke well enough – better than Sam knew her? How could _he_ know when to make a joke and when to embarrass her _just enough_? And despite me being annoyed with that Sam Bailey I just couldn't avoid feeling a little bit impressed of his aptitude of judging people he really didn't know.

"What's so funny?" Susan asked as she arrived to the table with Celia.

Sam wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and turned to her. He was just about to say something but Brooke shouted: "No!" It looked like she was going to punch him. I stood up the same second as she had opened her mouth, but that had been unnecessary – Brooke had calmed herself down. "It's enough now, Sam… I just can't laugh anymore, okay?" she gave him a strict look.

Susan turned to me and I slowly sat down again as I laughed like a stupid person. "It sounds like our personal little clown has been on the go again." She said and looked at Sam like a proud mother.

Man… Sam Bailey really knows how to handle my bad-tempered sister. I would never admit it, but I think that he should give _me_ some advice.

 **Bubbles**  
After dinner, the kids were free to do whatever they wanted for a few hours; except being close to the water. Betty stayed close to the cabins and the beach to keep an eye on the ones who wanted to play outside the last few hours before going to bed. Brooke sat in Foody for those who wanted to draw and things like that; and I had followed a group who wanted to build tree houses in the woods. In fact; I was really tired and all I wanted was to crawl into my bed and sleep; but I just couldn't resist their little puppy eyes.

"Can you carry this for me?" a boy asked and pointed to a fallen tree.

I helped him to lean the tree on another tree and him and his buddies started to carry branches to it to make a base.

After a couple of hours of tree house construction it started to get dark, so I told the children that it was time to go back to the sleeping cabins. Some of them protested but followed me back in the end. I saw Sam walking around the sleeping cabins, bussing children in as they came closer to him.

"Girls there. Boys there. Hey! Kevin, you know bloody hell you can't go in there!"

"You know bloody hell you can't go in there!" Kevin mimicked him.

"Don't make me come over there. You know I will bite yer nose off!"

"Try me!"

Kevin ran past Sam who just pretended to try and catch him, and then the boy ran into his own cabin. Sam spotted me coming from the woods with my group of children and stopped to wait for us to come.

"Come on, listen to the tough puff; it's time to sleep. If you listen to her right away you don't have to weep." He said joyfully, like he was rapping, and waved his hand to the doors.

"The _toughest_ puff." A girl corrected him.

"Word. Am I right, Chloe?" he fist bumped the girl and I laughed with raised eyebrows. He shot me one of his famous most charming smiles and I blushed.

About three days had passed since he smiled at me that way, and I still wondered why he changed. And now, all of a sudden, he behaved like nothing had happened.

The last few kids went into the cabins and we shut the doors after them, and then we started walking towards the Big Cottage together.

"What did you do after dinner?" I asked him and tried not to sound too interested. But I was, I actually _wanted_ to know what he had done today. It felt so strange to really wanting to get to know someone, but feel that you have to try and hide the excitement behind the simple question.

"First we played beach ball; my team against Betty's. And it was chaos. Kids everywhere fighting and crying and you know the deal? So I took half of the group to Foody to draw and paint and do things with colored papers and glue. But at the end of the day I just made up rap songs with a few of them in a corner. And that was fun. They are so smart, some of them, you know? They really know how to come up with words and rhymes." He looked down on his feet and looked like he remembered something. "I don't think that your sister likes me very much."

"My sister? Brooke?"

"No. Betty. But what did you do after dinner?"

"We built tree houses in the woods." I said with wrinkled forehead. Sam was more bothered over that Betty might not like him than what he wanted to show. "Why don't you think that Betty doesn't like you?"

"I don't know… it has something with the way of her being… her. But I will make her like me before we go home. I swear."

"Do you want me to talk to her? See if I can get any information out of her? I don't have to mention you suspecting anything." I asked as a joke – I knew that Betty didn't dislike him – that wasn't like her at all.

"Nah, it's okay." He said smug and shrugged his shoulders. "I'll make sure to solve this." He looked at the forest while we walked, spotted the tree houses and changed the subject. "Lucky kids they had you who could help them carry stuff for them."

I didn't want to talk about the possibility of Betty liking Sam or not, if he didn't want to himself, so I said: "Yeah, I guess." I mumbled and looked down on my feet.

The Big Cottage got closer. I looked up on the sky when I heard a few swallows flying around us; they sang and spun around in the sky, possibly chasing mosquitos. Sam sighed.

"What?" I asked him. Intrinsically, I didn't want to meddle in whatever was troubling him; but he had made a loud sigh – so I guess that it wasn't too much of a secret.

"I'm not tired at all." He simply said. We had stopped outside of the Big Cottage. "And it's so lonely at night."

"What do you mean?" I started to blush again; it felt like I was eavesdropping on something that wasn't meant for me.

"Well, for example; you have your sisters – you can talk to each other in the dark before falling asleep. I'm living in that small press, you know; the little closet by the TV. It's room for one bed but that's it. During the nights I sometimes watch the TV without any sound… sometimes entire nights." He chuckled. "You must think that I'm pathetic… But that's who I am; I'm a social butterfly. Being lonely kills me, even for just a few hours during night."

"You're not pathetic." I mumbled and felt, yet again, that I wasn't the right person to talk to about this – he didn't even know me that well.

"I'm sorry. Look at me, blathering like a header. I'm making you feel uncomfortable, don't I?"

He was so painfully honest and never seemed to feel ashamed of anything; so to talk about things like this with strange people must be kind of common for him. He was, as he had said, an awfully social person.

Was it just me who exaggerated? What's wrong with feeling lonely?

"I actually think I know what you mean." I said, but didn't dare to look into his eyes; I looked at the spot between them instead. I felt so shy in his presence; mostly _because_ he was so honest… but also because he was so immensely attractive that my heart galloped inside my chest. "I also feel that from time to time even though I'm surrounded by people."

"Right? Even though you have lots of people around you, it sometimes feels like you're in this dark… void, and you just can't breathe…" he looked at me and looked like he changed his attitude a little. "Maybe that's too deep for tonight… But I mean, look at this!" he spread his arms like wings and showed me the area. "Out here in the woods; there's not even a single bar on my cell indicating that I have connection to the rest of the world. Normally this is what I'm longing for while in the city, but when I'm finally here…" he turned to look at me… and he looked deep into my eyes with his brown… shiny eyes. "… it feels like something is missing."

It felt like I had a whole stampede inside of my body now; like my heart had multiplied and they acted like a flock of small horses that ran inside of my chest; trying to get me closer to the guy standing in front of me. His eyes were still locked on me.

Oh, my god; are we going to kiss? Is this going to be my second first kiss ever?

"… and the only person I call is my own brother." Sam mumbled with lowered eyebrows.

"What?" I whispered. What is happening?

"Yeah. I have bad connection and the only person I'm calling is my brother. That's what's pathetic."

I snapped out that kissing fantasy (if someone was going to be called pathetic, then that someone should be me). "Wait a minute…" I wrinkled my forehead. "You, if someone, should have a whole bunch of friends!"

"Certainly…" now it was Sam's turn to blush. "But I can't really, you know, talk about stuff… with them. Like now; it feels natural talking to you about stuff – you have this awesome aura I really can't explain. It feels like I've known you for several years, already."

 _But still you've almost ignored me these last few days?_

"Do you think it's because you don't have any girl-friends?" I tried.

"I _do_ have girl-friends… or… I- I had."

"What happened to them?"

He kicked the gravel underneath us and then looked up on the window closest to us. It was Susan and Phillip Waspbury's bedroom window which was open. "Do you want to go somewhere else? If you don't have anything else-" he started over. "I mean, if you don't want to go to bed? Who wants to listen to this dope?" he laughed, relaxed, but a bit disconcerted.

"No, of course I want to talk to you. Where shall we go?" I felt exhausted, but this boy was in need; my maternal instinct had really increased since I started working here – I did everything I could to make everyone happy; especially when I noticed that someone was suffering.

"I know a place. The lake is so calm at nights and I usually enjoy the calmness by the wharf. Let's go there."

I blushed for the third time this evening when I remembered what I had seen last night; Sam, standing there naked, looking over the lake and then slowly descending down into the water while the moon shone on his muscular body.

I snapped out of it again. Was that the reason Sam went over there every night? Because of the loneliness? Could he really be that depressed or was it just me exaggerating his feelings?

I nodded and followed him to the lake, walked around the Big Cottage, hoped to God that my sisters wasn't watching us and then walked out to the end of the wharf. When Sam began taking his shoes and socks off I widened my eyes. "What are you going to do?" I asked him, almost terror-struck.

"I'm going to dip my feet in the water." He said, making it sound like a question.

"Isn't it cold?" I decided to play dumb; didn't want to reveal that I had seen what he had done on this wharf… I make it sound like he did something bad...

"Try it." He smiled again, sat on the edge of the wharf and put his feet in the water. "It's really warm in here."

"So… anyway." I sat down next to him without taking neither my shoes nor my socks off. "Why don't you have any girl-friends?"

"Oh, yeah… No, it's too embarrassing." He said, regretting.

"No, what?" I encouraged him.

"Promise not to think of me as a self-conscious gubshite if I tell you?"

"Of course not."

"'Cause it just happens. I can't control it."

"Just tell me."

"Well then… The reason I don't have any girl-friends is… every time I become friends with a girl she falls in love with me."

"Every time?" I asked criticizing with a raised eyebrow.

"It's true! Every damn time. And you promised not to judge…"

"You already have a girlfriend?"

"No…" now it was his turn to raise his brow. "But none of those girls has been interesting enough for me. It's not my fault, okay?" he gave me an almost rebellious glance; I must have looked strict. "I'd warned them about this, it's like a curse. What I want from them is a friend and nothing more, because I'm not interested. They all said that they understood and that it wouldn't be a problem for them… and then they fall in love with me anyway. I have hurt so many girls' feelings, and I am really not proud of that." He looked down on me. "What? Do you think I should've dated them for a few months just to be nice?"

I sighed. "No, you're right."

He continued. "And that's why I feel so lonely nowadays; I don't have anyone to talk to. Only my brother… and now you."

"You want me to take the role as your new girl-friend?"

"Only if you want to… But I have to warn you." Sam chuckled.

"Sure." I said and smiled. "No problem. And a tip if you want girls as friends; befriend they who already have a boyfriend; then they won't misunderstand your intensions."

"Or I ruin their relationship. Been there, done that."

"That has happened before?" I guessed.

"You just don't go up to another guy's girlfriend and say 'hey, let's be friends'… It wasn't on purpose; I didn't want to break them up. I never tried to lead her on or did anything to her that would be inappropriate… I only hugged her once and that's when she thought that we were going to kiss and her boyfriend came into the room and it was chaos…"

"I'm sorry." I said with a little lump in my stomach. Poor guy.

"Yeah, luckily we were at my place and my brother was home so he could… that guy was really big and I don't know how to fight, really. I don't _like_ to fight." Sam started waving around his foot in the water. "By the way; now you know something personal about me, and that I'm single – do you have a guy waiting for you in Townsville?"

It felt like a lightning had struck my head. I really didn't feel like talking about this with Sam, so I just said: "No."

He must've felt the electricity in the air and heard the change of my voice. "Oh, there's an ex." It wasn't a question. He looked at me and I nodded.

We sat quiet for a while, Sam looked out over the water and the trees on the other side of the lake, and I looked at his big feet under the dark water. He sky was still not dark, but it usually didn't get darker than this at summers.

As if he had wondered long enough about how he was going to phrase himself, Sam said: "He's an idiot, just so you know."

"How do you know that it wasn't me who broke up?"

It felt unusually… okay… to talk with Sam about… my ex. It didn't rip any wounds open even though I had done everything not to think about him at all.

"I know that expression you have when you think about him. That douche doesn't know what he's missing."

"Why?"

"Because I don't get how he _wouldn't_ want to be with you." Sam paused to take a deep breath. "Woops, a little too much information?"

I didn't say anything, I felt puzzled from what he had said. It actually felt like Sam knew me, but how could he? I didn't know him that well. Was he really that good of a human person? Was that why everybody started to like him right away, because he knows just what to do to get to know somebody?

"Okay, I'll just say it…" Sam looked down on his lap and started talking faster. "You are the kindest and most insightful person I have ever met. I got that feeling of you right as I met you, but before you opened your mouth all I could think of was how breathtakingly beautiful you are… And I don't know if you've noticed or if you just didn't care, but; I have been flirting with you a lot these three weeks."

"You flirt with everyone." I said, still puzzled.

"Not in the same way as with you. Maybe you haven't noticed, but for me it has been different. And… I don't think that it have happened to me before." He gave me an apologetic smile. "As I said; it hasn't been hard for me to get the girls to like me, I mean – it's been subconsciously, even. Look at your sister, for example… I'm sorry, but I told you that I can't control it. It's just who I am… but you…" he looked directly at me now. "… you are single, you blush when I talk to you and still you haven't fallen for me the way I have intended you to – and that only makes you even more interesting… you're special."

What he didn't know was that being shy your whole life only makes you a good actress who doesn't like showing your true feelings. His charm had worked on me, as well; the thing was just that I was too broken right now to even think about guys that way.

It was so strange! So confusing, I didn't have time for guys and dates anymore. My heart had been trashed into something unrecognizable and I was going to be a mother in a few months. But those were things I didn't want to talk to Sam about – a stranger at a summer camp. But of course he had succeeded into making me like him; of course my heart twitched when he talked because it tried to beat for him… but at the same time I had had his personality in the back of my mind – he was behaving the same way with everyone; why would I be any different? Why would he pick me over any knock out, out there?

"But I guess that it's only me…" Sam said straight-out, he sounded a little bitter now. "Finally I meet the perfect girl and of course she thinks that I'm just this charming good-for-nothing guy and she's still in love with her ex."

"Are you mad at me for not falling for you?"

He leaned back and let all of his weight to rest on his elbows. "Of course not. I'm sorry, that's not what I'm trying to say. Just…" he laid down on the wharf on his back, still with his feet in the water. "… I'm so helplessly in love with you, but I don't know why. Or, I know why; you're an amazing girl; I just didn't know it would feel like this and that it would be so fast."

I looked at Sam who had shut his eyes with his arms tight over them and I realized that it felt weird to breath normally. I got nervous. The butterflies were waking to life in my stomach and their small wings fluttered a little.

Painfully honest; that was a good word to describe Sam Bailey. He really didn't withdraw to say anything.

I still didn't know what to say, but kept staring at the only part of his face I could see; his lips, which was tightly sealed and tense.

He finally opened his eyes and looked at me through his arms. "Please, say something." He pleaded, and I saw that he was embarrassed now; as if he regretted his words, as if he had said too much.

"Oh…" I just mumbled shyly. He sat up again to look at me when I spoke. "I guess you're right about your theories."

"That you thought I was flirting with everyone and that you still have feelings for your ex?"

"Exactly." I nodded and bit the inside of my lip. "That was the reasons to why I didn't want to like you." _Don't be such a coward!_ "But I don't think that my effort was good enough."

"Do you mean that?" his brown eyes sparkled. "Do you like me too? A small amount, at least?"¨

I nodded shyly and felt my cheeks get warmer. My heart was singing and the butterflies popped around in my belly like pop corns.

Sam leaned tentatively my way with a smile. His face got closer to mine; the tip of his nose touched my cheekbone. I felt his warm breath on my face and his hand slowly and gently caressed my key bone. Before I knew it his lips found their way to mine and he kissed me. A soft, warm, gentle kiss. I sighed, took my hand to his muscular arm and started feeling it with my fingers.

Even though his approach had been slow and careful, I was startled by how fast it all was going. I hadn't thought this through, yet. My head was spinning; this felt so familiar but still so new, exciting.

Familiar.

But before I could remember what was so rackingly familiar; before I had the time to interrupt the kiss and explain why I couldn't continue; Sam jumped away from me and stared at the sleeping cabins. I had heard it too.

Loud, trampling footsteps had warned us and two figures ran out on the wharf and pushed both Sam and me off of it and down in the water. When we popped up above the surface again, soaking wet and gasping for air, we saw two twelve year old boys stand folded in double on the wharf, laughing and pointing at us. The rest of the kids, both boys and girls, joined the two boys and laughed like crazy; and then they all joined Sam and me in the water with clothes on and everything.


	4. Tumblr account announcement!

Hello! I have made a tumblr account where I upload the pictures and sketches of my fanfictions! If you're interested, please visit letsgetschwifty and tell me what you think of the pictures! You can even make requests :)

Thanks you for reading!

My bad! I didn't realize that links didn't work here! But search for letsgetschwifty!


	5. Chapter 3 - Mixed feelings

**Mixed feelings**

 **Buttercup**  
The laughter made me glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand between Betty and Becca's beds by the door. It was quarter to ten at night. I sat up on my bed and looked out through the window and the wharf where I heard all the commotion. Before that, I had just laid on top of the covers on my bed and read a magazine and asked myself why I was still here; neither Betty nor Becca had come back to the bedroom after the kids went to bed fifteen minutes earlier.

It seemed like all the children swam around in the lake by the wharf and played and splashed water on each other. I shook my head and smiled to myself; I hadn't even heard them until they were in the water. They're getting good.

"Hey!" I shouted as I got closer to the wharf. "Isn't it cold?"

"Jump in, Brooke!" Robin shouted back – the blonde girl from the canoes. She was leaning on the wharf with half her body before her friend pulled her down into the water again.

"The water is fine!"

I reacted to the voice; was that Sam? I looked around on the faces while turning my night vision on; it seemed like every one of the forty kids were there and in the middle of the cluster two kids was clinging on Sam and next to him was Becca bobbing with an open-hearted laughter. I hadn't seen her this happy in a long time.

I put my hands on my hips. "Well, oh, well. I see that you are supposed to represent responsible adults?"

But before I could say anything more a handful of water hit my face. When I wiped the water off of my face and looked for the guilty one; I saw Sam's grinning face. "Oops!" he just said before splashing me again.

"This means war!" I shouted and all the kids started to splash each other and scream.

 **Blossom**  
I laid on Dainton's arm on his bed and he caressed the top of my head and my forehead. We talked about all the small things in this world and both jerked when we heard my cellphone vibrate on his desk. Half a second later I held it in my hand and looked at the screen. "Oh, no… It's Brooke. I think I need to go back now."

"That place is going under without you, isn't it?"

I gave him an apologizing smile and answered the phone. "Hi, Brooke."

" _The tradition lives strong but we have a couple of traitors._ " She muttered on the other side of the line; but still sounded amused.

"Did I miss everything?" I complained.

" _Yeah. The rascals are wet, but they're not alone. Listen._ "

I listened intensively and heard a lot of laughter in the background; two of them sounded familiar. "Becca and Sam?"

" _They helped, it seems._ "

"I'm on my way." I hung up and crawled into bed with Dainton again.

"What had they done?" he asked.

"They're swimming in the lake, so I need to go back."

"Hurry home on Saturday."

"Do you have loads of studying to do tomorrow?"

"No, but my father wants me to work with him at his business this summer. Apparently all his workers are taking vacation days by the end of the summer and he accidentally said yes to all of them, so there will be some chaotic weeks for him."

"Then you'll be available tomorrow night?" I stroke his cheek with my finger tips and down to his lips, let my fingers stay there; as if I didn't want to hear the answer if it had been something I didn't want to hear.

He took my hand and kissed it. "Come by when you wish, but maybe they'll do something funnier tomorrow." He meant the kids.

"Brooke and Becca will call me." I whispered, kissed him and stood up to fly away.

 **Buttercup**  
I was amazed that either one of Susan, Philip, Richard or Celia woke up from all the commotion the kids had created. They were all out of the water with towels around their bodies and Betty blow dried them, one by one, so that they would be dry enough for bed. Sam stood a few feet away, laughing, with Becca; and that made my stomach to shiver uncomfortably.

"How come you were in the water as well?" I tried to sound unaffected when I got closer to them.

"Oh…" began Becca, and I reacted to her shy smile; she was hiding something.

"We sat on the wharf, talking about stuff and didn't hear Tyler and Eric who snuck up on us from behind. They pushed us into the water and then the rest jumped in after us." Sam was laughing.

"Hm…"

Becca looked at me with big, begging eyes; tried to look innocent.

"I don't care." I just told her before walking back to the Big Cottage to lie down in my bed. She _knew_ that I liked him!

 **Bubbles**  
"What did she mean by that?" Sam asked with surprise.

"She can be a bit tricky from time to time." I mumbled.

We stood quiet for a while, watching Betty drying the kids, and then Sam chuckled. "She's jealous, isn't she?"

I nodded. "It's hard for me to hide things from her, and both of you seems to know everything just by looking at people."

He touched my arm with feather like fingers; my arm was covered in goose bumps. "I truly hope that I'm not ruining anything between the two of you?"

"No." I took a deep breath to steel myself for what I was about to say. "Speaking of which…"

"Oh…" he took his hand away from my arm. "It's coming now, isn't it?" I wanted to tell him otherwise but I couldn't. "Now you'll tell me that kissing me was a mistake, because you don't want to hurt your sister. Am I right?"

"Something like that." I still didn't want to tell him about my hopeless feelings for… _him_ , these feelings that's still there and that gnawed on me.

Sam already knew about that, I know that he knows, but I don't think that he understands how _much_ those feelings stopped me from wanting to be with him. Kissing Sam had been one of the most amazing things that had happened to me in a long time; and at the same time it had felt so wrong. New and exciting but painfully familiar. It was confusing to me, and _that_ was why I didn't like this situation.

"Okay. So… this was all just a mistake?" I had hurt his feelings and the guilt was burning inside my chest.

"That's not all." I mumbled, and finally decided to give him more of my mind; even though it felt like I was going to vomit from my words. " _You_ are not the problem, not Brooke either for that part. This will sound like a cliché but it's actually me. I have just gotten out of a very serious relationship with this guy, and it won't be fair to you if I can't… like you the way you deserve. Do you understand?"

His eyes sparkled mischievously. "But you didn't know that I was flirting with you so you didn't have time to fall for me these weeks. Maybe if we give it some time, then you'll see that I'm actually somewhat of a nice guy."

I chuckled and sighed sadly. "You're still not what's wrong with me."

Sam perched his lips while looking into my eyes. "Alright. No more snogging. Is it innocent enough to invite you to the festival this summer and watch my brother play?"

"Like a date?" I felt that I didn't have any more heart to turn him down again.

"Nope. Just two friends going to a festival together."

I thought for a moment. "Sure, thanks. It'll be fun." It actually sounded fun, but his smile back felt a little suspicious. "Can my friends come?" I asked.

"Certainly, they can! The more the merrier, but try to talk to me sometimes and don't let me be the awkward third of fifth wheel." Now he gave me that wide smile again with glowing, yellowish brown eyes.

"We'll actually be the perfect number!" I smiled back.

So now my friends and I will attend the festival this summer with Sam for the first time… I wonder if Professor will let me.

 **Blossom**  
The morning after, everybody gathered, as usual, in Foody eight a.m. to eat breakfast. Becca and Brooke had been unusually quiet while dressing this morning, almost as if they didn't want to talk to each other. Well, Brooke was always quiet in the mornings as she had this really bad morning temper, but Becca hadn't been as chatty as she usually is. Maybe it was because of the hormones; she was four months pregnant by now and had found out that she was expecting twins. I had tried to get her to spill the names of the babies but she didn't know herself seeing she didn't know the genders yet.

I couldn't even imagine what it would feel like to be pregnant at this age; I would be too worried about the future. She wasn't going to be able to go to college properly without missing her children to death. I don't even know if _I'm_ going to be able to go without missing them every day and wanting to know everything about them – and they're not even mine.

While I pondered and put food on my plate, said good morning to the kids and tried not to look contemplative; Becca stood in the line a few kids behind me with Sam. I tried to eavesdrop, but the murmur from the kids drowned some of their words.

Becca: "… don't know what to do…"

Sam: "Maybe we should…"

"No. That's not how it works. This will sort itself out." Said Becca, took her fruit and veggies with her to the grown up's table. She hesitated for a second when she noticed that Brooke already sat there by herself, but kept walking and sat down with one empty chair between them.

Brooke was looking out the window when I headed towards them; the grass and the trees outside were wet but the sun was already drying everything up.

"Good morning. What's up?" I asked them both as I sat down between them.

"I'm fine." Said Becca, and Brooke only mumbled something about her being tired.

"Do you want to engage in a philosophical conversation about what Susan and Phil is planning on this evening?" I asked them both.

"Sure. What do _you_ think?" Brooke asked with an attitude. Her eyebrows dropped when she saw that Sam was walking over to us.

I tried very hard not to get mad at her; what in the world was going on between those three? "I think that there will be a party, and I also think they might hire a magician."

"Are you talking about the party tonight?" Sam whispered as he sat down, completely unaffected by the silence between Becca and Brooke. "Have you found out anything more?"

"No, but we're trying." I said, a tad relieved that this conversation wouldn't be too stiff even though it meant that I was going to be forced to have it with Sam.

"Out of the four of us; _you_ are the one closest to the 'grown ups'."

"Susan likes you the most." I told him, remembering those times she had almost treated him like her own son.

"But you're around her all the time. You work with her in the infirmary."

"Well, she hasn't told me anything. I just suggested that maybe they have hired a magician."

"That's possible…" said Sam. He looked directly at Brooke. "What do you think?" his eye was twitching and a gentle smile was resting on his lips.

Brooke slowly raised one of her eyebrows, as if she couldn't believe that he was talking to her, but then she replied: "Yes, it's a possibility that they've hired a magician."

He stopped smiling after hearing the tone of her voice, but didn't look surprised. There was something going on between them, something that I had missed all together; probably while I had been at Dainton's the night before.

I leaned over the table and looked at them one by one. "Is there something we need to solve here?"

Nobody replied. Brooke kept staring out the window, Becca looked down on the table and Sam glanced at me.

"Come on… It's our last day; can't we just have fun today?"

No answer.

Susan and Celia arrived to the table with their own plates of breakfast. "Alright! What are we going to do today?" Susan asked us joyfully and sat down next to Sam. "Good morning, guys. Are you tired?"

"Good morning." I said and tried to smile.

The others mumbled something but Sam seemed to be the best actor of all: "Betty think that you have hired a magician for tonight."

"Oh, yeah? Why that theory?" Celia laughed, curious and wanted know my thoughts.

"Kids love magicians." I shrugged, still sheepishly smiling.

Susan gave Celia this meaningful glance; as if she wanted to put the magician to the list of surprises.

After the breakfast I tried to catch Becca and ask her about what had happened tonight; she was the one who would be the most honest to me.

 **Buttercup**  
I just couldn't stand it anymore and went back to the Big Cottage and into our bedroom after breakfast, I needed to be alone. This time Becca had gone too far.

Or… to be completely honest; I didn't know exactly why I was so mad at her. Sam was one of the hottest guys I've ever met, with one exception, so why did he want to be with her and not with me? I wasn't used to guys hitting on me while sober; so why did _he_ do it and then chose my _sister_? Of course it wasn't Becca's fault… Sam was the one being a douche bag! I shouldn't be mad at Becca, I should kick Sam's ass before he hurts her!

But… what if he hasn't _been_ hitting on me? What about that time… what about… Didn't he-

How can a hot guy like that want to be with a dork like my sister anyway? Was he maybe… a dork, as well? He plays the guitar, likes the nature, love kids… Is that being a dork, or at least a wimp? Was he actually that perfect of a guy – boyfriend material – and the looks is only one big plus?

Why does Becca want to be with him? She's pregnant and still in love with the guy who knocked her up and cowardly left her with the babies.

Doesn't she… doesn't she have the right to be happy? If this dork now was so perfect and could make her happy; then who am I to stand in their way?

I laid on the bed and decided to forgive Becca; or rather just tell her that I really don't care about her and Sam. He wasn't mine even thought I had told her that I wanted him first, but he chose her so it wasn't up to me anymore.

Just then, the door opened. I had heard them walking through the house, thus knowing they were on their way.

"Brooke?" Betty asked, she and Becca stood by the door.

I sat up. "Come here." I reached for Becca who slowly got closer to me and sat down next to me on my bed. I hugged her. "I'm sorry. Okay? I behave ridiculously."

Once I let go of her, she and Betty stared at me with big eyes, Becca said: "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I mean it. I won't stand in your way. It was childish of me to think that he was mine because I saw him first."

"Wait a minute…" Betty cut us off. "Is there something between you and Sam?" she asked Becca.

"No…"

"No?" now it was my turn to look at her with wide eyes. "Then why are we having this fucking dispute?"

"I need to talk to you about that… We only kissed-"

"What?" Betty and I said in one mouth.

"It just sort of happened… I told him that I wasn't ready for a relationship. He surprised me, I swear. We're not going to be with each other that way…"

"He kissed you?" Betty asked her, Becca nodded.

"And he told you that he likes you?"

I felt annoyed again. Not for Sam kissing her; but if he did it without liking her then he was going to be up for some beating again – Becca is not a girl you kiss and forgets about; you need an honest reason for doing so.

"Yes…" she answered my question.

"And you like him?" Betty sat down on Becca's other side on my bed.

"I don't know…" she put her face in her hands and leaned forward. "I'm so confused."

"But you've already told him that you're not ready for a relationship." Said I.

"I know, but…" she paused to let out a sigh. "I actually believe that I like him… but I just can't stop feeling guilty towards-"

"Towards whom?" I asked her combative. I wasn't going to let her feel bad about this because of _him_.

"Brooke." Betty warned me. "I understand your feelings, Becca; that was exactly what I felt with Stan."

"But you had a reason for that." Said Becca. "You and Dainton got together again; we all knew you would. Because you loved him and he… he loved you back… he never _stopped_ loving you…" Becca started to cry; big, fast tears.

"Oh, sweetie…" said Betty and I, and tried to console her.

"Please, just…" Betty tried, but she didn't know exactly what she was asking for.

"I can't handle seeing you like this." I mumbled and felt that my own tears were on their way. "But I'm certain about one thing; that… idiot," I wanted to call him something worse but stopped myself, "to brat, is not worthy you. Absolutely not. So, please, don't feel guilty for liking someone else, got it? You don't owe Leo anything."

That was the first time in months anyone had said his name out loud; and we all shivered when hearing it. Becca sobbed hearing his name.

"She's right, Becca. He doesn't deserve you." Said Betty softly. "But if you're not ready then you don't have to date Sam either. We're here for you… we will always take your side; whatever happens."

"Thanks…" Becca whispered.

A knock on the door. "Sorry that I disturb." It was Sam, he stood outside the door but didn't open it. "We're all gathering on the front, but… I think that I can stall them a few more minutes." It seemed like he'd heard that we were crying in here and didn't want to come in, and after that we heard his steps as he walked through the house and out the front door.

 **Bubbles**  
Betty quickly freshened herself up; wiped mascara from under her eyes and put on some new before she flew through the cottage and out on the yard. Brooke and I stood in front of the mirror; we didn't want anyone to know that we had been crying. I looked the worst with red, swollen eyes and red cheeks.

"You could tell them that you had an allergic reaction." Brooke suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds like me…" I sighed and gave up on trying making myself look pretty. "Okay, let's go." I glued on a smile and we went out to meet the others.

The kids and the grownups were gathered outside the Big Cottage at the parking lot. Well, it wasn't a parking lot, really; rather a smaller area without grass where everybody parked their cars.

"Oh, Becca and Brooke, good! Finally we can continue!" said Philip when he spotted us. "Today we're going to have so much fun. Not in our original groups – everyone! At first at least. The first thing on the schedule is a quiz orientation in the forest." The kids looked at each other and started whispering excitedly. "And after that the tournament will begin!"

"What?"

"Tournament?"

The children were shouting and cheering as they heard something new and thrilling.

"What's a tournament?"

"It's when you fight each other with horses and long lances!"

"Hey, come on… Don't be silly, Riley!" Sam shouted to the boy who thought we were going to play medieval, and laughed.

I looked his way; he seemed completely unaffected by our conversation earlier. Maybe it was only me feeling that my life was shattering… he looked up, our eyes locking, and stopped smiling, but then he gave me this apologetic smile with low eyebrows, longing…

"It's a game!" Phil shouted and yanked me back to reality. "With different departments, and we're going to be divided into two teams. The winning team will get their price in the canteen later tonight."

"Guys against girls!" a thirteen year old boy in the front yelled.

"Guys against girls!" his friend stepped in.

"Yeah, the girls against the boys!" a girl from the middle of the crowd shouted.

"No, no, no…" said Susan before total riot. "You're going to draw tickets after the quiz. They who get a blue ticket," she showed everyone a blue piece of paper, "are team blue! And they who draw a red ticket," she held the red ticket up for everyone to see, "are team red. It'll be boys and girls mixed in both teams. Even the leaders will draw one ticket each." She turned to us.

"That'll be fun, eh?" said Sam and all the children laughed and screamed and cheered.

Philip began talking again: "There's two departments in every field; The beach, the lake, the woods and Foody. Eight departments – eight games to win points for your team. But first, quiz orientation! I want you to divide yourselves up in teams of twos, and then Celia will give you a pen and a paper."

Betty and Brooke talked to Susan about the tournament while the kids paired up.

"Do you want to be in my team?" I jumped as I hadn't noticed that Sam had snuck up behind me and whispered into my ear.

I turned around. "You scared me." I laughed. "But sure; I can be in your team."

He smiled, but slowly got serious. "I need to give you an apology… I heard what you and your sisters talked about. I know that it really doesn't consider me, but… I didn't know that you were hurting this bad over the break up with your ex. If I knew; I would never confuse you like this. I'm so sorry."

"Sam… it's okay. You didn't know." I hated that he apologized for kissing me… that's nothing to be sorry for but I didn't know what to say.

"I promise not to pressure you into anything. We're only friends now. Do you forgive me?" I couldn't escape the feeling that he was trying his best not to look sad.

"Of course I do." I gave him a sad smile back, but sincere. "But you really shouldn't apologize. Okay? And I will still go with you to the festival, if it's okay with you?"

"I'm still up for that." Sam lifted his arms. "Is it okay?"

I nodded and got closer to him. And we hugged; a tight and warm hug. Suddenly the scent from his body hit me and drugged me, something happened inside of me and I didn't want to let go. In that moment it felt like I was going to choose to be with him; and Sam seemed to feel it too as he started to stroke my back.

"Are you in love?"

We quickly let go of each other, me with blushing cheeks. A dark girl with big brown eyes and a hot pink dress looked at us with a wide smile.

"Friends hug too, Kat." Said Sam and chuckled.

"Oh, okay… I just wanted to tell you that you look cute together; like a prince and a princess from a movie." She skipped away to look for someone to pair up with.

"That wasn't awkward at all…" Sam chuckled with one hand scratching his neck.

I shrugged but gave him an apologizing smile back.

 **Blossom**  
After the quiz the tournament started. Susan, Philip and apparently Richard, had done really good with the departments. First we all got to know in which team we were going to be; Brooke, Philip and I in the red team while Becca, Sam and Richard got the blue. Celia and Susan were going to be impartial judges.

The first challenge on the beach was volleyball and the second was to build something with sand around one of the grownups. My team built a centaur around Philip who was lying down in the sand and the blue team made Sam into a dragon. Susan and Celia walked around our creations and judged them; giving the winning points to the blue team's dragon.

Beach points: Red team; eleven. Blue team; eleven, since the red team (my team) won the volleyball.

During lunch everybody were laughing and having a great time at their tables, and the ones who wanted to shower after the first challenge could do so; especially Sam and Phil who had sand everywhere.

After lunch we all went to the woods and the first challenge was an obstacle course which Philip and Richard had been secretly building before camp started. The second challenge was archery. The blue team won the first challenge but the red team won the second, and once again we tied; both teams with twenty eight points each.

Everyone seemed more stoked than ever when we walked to the beach again to play the lake challenges. The first one was to take the canoe and tie a red or a blue ribbon to a tree on a little island on the lake; and the first team to tie all their ribbons first wins. The blue team won.

The second lake challenge was skimming, and each skip the pebble made was counted as one point. Becca, Brooke and I couldn't participate in this challenge (I think it's considered cheating when you have superpowers), so Celia took Becca's place as we watched.

The red team got twenty five points and the blue twenty seven; so now the blue team led with fifty six points over the red's fifty three.

And finally; the last two challenges in Foody was a quiz contest with twenty questions and the first one to answer correctly won the point. For this challenge we decided that the kids could answer the questions by themselves; no grownups participated. And the last challenge before dinner was to throw a tennis ball through different sizes of holes in a wall; the smaller the hole the more points.

Team red won the quiz contest with thirteen points to blue team's seven, but the blue team got thirty three points with the tennis balls and the red only twenty five.

So the blue team won the entire tournament with ninety six points over red's ninety one! Maybe next year, team!

 **Buttercup**  
There was this nice and excited chatter around the canteen during dinner later that evening. Each of the kids in the blue team had got their golden medals and the reds got their silver ones. A magician was walking between them all, from table to table, to show everyone his magic tricks with a wand, a card deck and his hat, and all the children watched him in awe.

"This day has been just perfect. They're going to sleep like babies." Said Susan while looking like a proud mother on the children.

"They're going to be even more tired after the disco tonight." Philip agreed.

I had been shouting and cheering on my team all day, I was too exhausted to provide anything interesting to the conversation. All I wanted was to go to bed now.

After dinner, dessert was served; they could all pick one ice cream each and then they had an hour to freshen up before the disco. Betty and I quickly moved all the tables and chairs along the walls in the room to make a dance floor. Becca had already gone to the Big Cottage to take a shower; she wouldn't have to do anything as it only took a few seconds for us anyway.

"Did you have fun today?" Sam asked me. I was sitting on a chair along the wall and he sat down on the chair next to me.

"God, I don't think that I've ever missed my quiet room at home more."

He laughed. "As much as I want to be in my own bed again; I'm going to miss life here at camp. Laughing children, and teaching them things must be one of the best moments in life."

Yes, definitely a wimp.

"Yeah…" I mumbled. "Congratulations, by the way. I liked you as a dragon."

"Thanks! But your team wasn't far behind. I'm only a dragon by nighttime, I'm a little pissed that the kids reviled my secret."

"Oh, ha-ha…"

…

The party was loud; both from the speakers and the children. They played all the different remixes from every Didney-song to popular pop stars. As long as the music was good the children danced their butts off on the dance floor. They had their crisps and popcorn and a big bowl with soda that resembled punch. They were worth it, those little rascals.

That night they slept so deep there were no more pranks for the year.

 **Blossom**  
Seven a.m. the next morning the alarm clock between mine and Becca's beds woke me up. Yesterday had been fun and eventful, and the night had been quick but calm. I sat up, stretched for a bit and went to the shower rooms with my towel and shower bag.

"Check if it's empty…" Becca whispered from her bed without opening her eyes.

There were two shower rooms in this house (one for men and one for women) containing two showers each, like stalls with a wall between so you can still see each other from the neck up and talk to each other. I opened the door to the women's shower room and noticed that one of the stalls were taken, so I went back to the room and told Becca.

"… but I'll wake you up when I'm finished."

"Thanks…" she immediately fell asleep again.

"Good morning!" I told the person who was showering. It was either Susan or Celia (I could only see the back of her head and they both have brown hair).

"Good morning, Betty." Celia sang from the stall.

I began undressing, put my pajamas on the empty shelf on the wall with my towel and entered the stall next to Celia's.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked me.

"Like a log." I replied. "It'll be nice to come home today, though."

"I totally agree, but at the same time; I'm going to miss the camp. My life has been circling around this place for three weeks now."

"Yeah, it can't be avoided." I laughed.

We kept chitchatting till Celia was finished, dressed and headed to hers and her husband's bedroom.

…

Straight after breakfast the kids ran around their sleeping cabins to gather all their stuff and packing them into their bags. Some of the parents had already arrived and were now waiting for their children by the parking lot in front of the Big Cottage. Becca and I helped the girls in their cabin to find their stuff while Brooke was in the boy's; and then I discretely followed Kat to the cars.

"Who'll pick you up?" I asked her, pretending to small talk.

"I actually don't know. Either my mom or my sister. Didn't they call to tell you that?" she asked, a little worried.

"Yeah, probably they've called already, but they haven't told me. I haven't asked the Waspburys, to be honest."

"There's the answer to your question; it's my sister." She said, a little surprised, but her face ripped up in a wide smile.

A blue and rather scrappy Saab rolled in from the road to the muddy patch on the grass where it stopped. The door opened and a young, dark woman in her early twenties stepped out and looked around. She was wearing a marine blue costume suite and shiny black high heels; her hair was to her shoulders and her lips were dark red.

Okay, now I just need to talk to her about Kat's situation at home.

"Trace!" Kat shouted and ran to her sister before I had the time to react.

The sister, Trace, opened her arms with a big smile. "Oh, Kat, I've missed you so much!" Kat threw herself around Trace's neck and they hugged each other tight and long.

Maybe it wasn't that bad after all; they were probably just going through a rough patch right now and Trace seemed to be that kind of big sister who did everything for her family. Oh, well…

Kat came running back and threw herself around my neck the same way she had done on her sister, who came walking, wobbling a little on her high heels on this uneven terrain, to talk with me.

"Hi, I'm Tracy Smith, Katherine's sister."

So her name _was_ Katherine all along? But I didn't think about it any further. "Hi. Beatrice Utonium; I'm a camp leader here." I took her hand.

"Oh, I've heard so much about you." Tracy blushed a little. "You don't have to tell me who you are. And Kat have been talking so much about you over the phone."

"I told her that you tried to teach me to swim!" said Kat proudly and took her sister's hand, hugged her arm and didn't seem to be wanting to let go.

"Thank you so much." Said Tracy. "I haven't been able to teach her this summer and haven't had any time to take her to the beach." She turned to Kat. "We can go to the baths in the city when I get my vacation this fall?"

"Yes!" said Kat enthusiastically.

"Alright then." She turned to me again. "I'll just check her out and then we'll be on our way. Thank you for everything, really, and it was so nice to meet you."

"No problem, and it was nice to meet you too! Take care now, Kat, okay?" I stroke her cheek. "You're the toughest girl I've ever had the pleasure to get to know."

They walked, hand in hand, towards the Big Cottage to say good bye to Susan and Philip. "Do you have all your stuff?" Trace asked Kat.

"Yes!"

"Did you say good bye to your friends?"

Everything seemed to turn out for the better in the end.

 **Bubbles**  
As I walked through the door to our house in Townsville at one p.m. that afternoon, I just dropped my bag with clothes on the floor and went straight for the chair in the living room where I sank down into it. Betty and Brooke were right behind me and walked over to the couches and did the same. All three of us groaned and sighed.

Professor closed the door behind us and walked to the kitchen. "In need of vacation?" he teased us.

"I know that I need that at least." Said Brooke. Betty and I silently agreed.

Professor came back into the living room with four glasses and a jug of ice cold lemonade. He put the glasses on the table and started pouring up. "It's really hot today." He said, took a sip from his own glass and sat down in the couch next to Betty's feet. "It's only in the middle of July yet, it's getting warmer by the end of the month."

"But you won't be here then." Said Betty, sat up and drank her lemonade.

"No, I'll be on an tropical island somewhere and sunbathe on the beach with my…" it was like his words got stuck in his throat. "… my _wife_."

My sisters and I squeaked excitedly.

"How does it feel, Professor?" now it was Brooke's turn to tease him. "Irene will make you an honest man in a few days and there will be no return."

Professor's eyes got bigger as he stared on the wall in front of him; the blood seemed to slowly leave his face.

"Oh, it's going to be fine, dad." I tried to calm him down. "You won't mess anything up; we will help you with that."

"Yeah, you took that dance class last week-" Betty said.

"The _secret_ dance class." Professor cut her off, but Brooke and I had already started to giggle.

"Sorry." Betty whispered.

"Yeah, it will all turn out well. And I'm crazy about Irene; so it will feel much better once the wedding is over."

"Aw…" my sisters and I sighed.

…

We drank our lemonade and went to our own bedrooms to pack up and throw our dirty clothes in the laundry downstairs. I was suddenly reminded of that thing I was going to ask Professor about and went out to our back yard where he sat in the shade of the parasol and read a book.

"Dad?" I asked.

"Yes, Becca." He looked up from his book and I sat down across to him.

"Well… I became friends with one of the leaders at the camp, and he told me that his baby brother played in a band."

"Okay?"

"Well…" I said again. "His brother's band is going to have a gig this summer and I'm wondering if it's okay if I go?"

"A gig? Here in Townsville?" he was suspecting where this conversation was leaning to; he knew everything about the annual festival in the woods.

"It's actually in Forestville. But I will only watch _them_ play and then I go straight home." I quickly said before he had the time to turn me down right away.

Professor shut the book on the table in front of him and gave me a strict glare. "Are you seriously talking about that Scream and Crash-festival? The one with all the accidents, drugs and alcohol?"

"I don't want to go there for the drugs and alcohol. I just want to see my friend's brother play."

"I don't even let Brooke go on those kinds of concerts…" Professor sounded upset, and looked upset, but he didn't want to be too much of a boss seeing I was going to turn eighteen in only one month. "How old is this 'baby brother'? Isn't there some kind of age-limit on these festivals?"

"Oh… I actually think that he is around my age."

"And how old is this friend of yours from the camp?" he started to sound really mad now, I didn't want that…

But I decided to keep my cool. "Nineteen, but that's only one year older than me. The same age as Dainton."

"Hm…" it was like he didn't have anything more to complain about. "Do I need to worry about you and your… friend?"

"Why should you?" I asked him innocently.

"Because of the fact that a nineteen year old stranger is going to drag my pregnant daughter with him to a hard rock festival with drugs and alcohol and screaming youngsters who-" he paused with his eyes shut. "Okay, what does he look like?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Because- Does he have a Mohawk or another weird partly shaved hairdo with unnatural colors? Piercings on weird parts of his body or tattoos?"

"Now you just described Liam Berger." I said accusatorily.

"Does Liam have tattoos?" Professor's face turned red and his eyes were shooting lightning bolts.

I tried to calm him down. "He does not look like Liam or worse. I guess that his brother and _his_ friends look like that; but Sam has natural dark red hair, brown eyes and honestly – he dresses more like Dainton."

"So, proper?" Professor thought quietly for a bit. "And you still want to go to that festival? You know that I'm getting married that weekend, right?"

"I _just_ want to watch his brother play, and then I go straight back home. It'll take a couple of hours, tops." I promised.

"Are any of your girl-friends going?" I took that as a 'yes'.

"I'll call and ask them straight away!" I jumped up, curved the table and hugged him around his neck and shoulders. "Thanks!"

 **Buttercup**  
The same night we got home I called Tilly.

" _Party at Robin's tonight, but she didn't want too many people to come. It's only going to be you, me, Robin and some guys from the basketball team._ "

"Am _I_ going?" I asked her surprised.

" _Yeah, I couldn't call you while you were at the camp, no signals got through. The reception must suck in the forest._ "

"I know, and yeah it does. Okay, I'll come over. Why no guys from the football team?"

" _We've already partied with them enough this summer; the basketball team asked us personally this weekend._ "

"Robin's parents?" why did I even ask?

" _Out of country. As usual._ "

"As usual." I agreed. "Who's coming? Everyone?"

" _Derrec, Jonah and Jake. You can ask Liam._ "

"Should I come now? Is Chris home?" Christopher is Robin's twenty two year old brother who used to buy us alcohol.

" _We're already set. It's enough for you, too. And you can come over now! We've already started, but the guys aren't here yet._ "

"Okay, see you in a few minutes."

 **Blossom**  
Luke and I were invited over to Dainton's that night for dinner. His father was going to work late at his IT-business and his baby sister was over at their mom's in Citiesville; so it was only going to be the three of us. I was there first and helped him with the dinner (at least did my best, I was nothing compared to Dainton in the kitchen), and Luke arrived at six. Before he came, though, Dainton accidentally spilled a secret about Luke.

"How do you know that?" I asked him with wide eyes.

"I kind of… forced him to tell me. But you can't tell him that I told you!"

"Wow… so Luke and Brooke's friend Tilly? Is he going to ask her out?"

"He hasn't even said one word to her, but I'm trying to get him to do that."

"If he tells me about her in the future, then I will try to help him too. But I'm still a little… pissed… that he told you first." I glared at Dainton while making the table.

"I guess I'm the better friend." Dainton said proudly to tease me.

It felt a little strange how extremely well Dainton and Luke agreed with each other; they had been hanging out every day I had been at the camp; as if _they_ were better friends than Luke and _I_ were. But they also played together every night on their own computers and talked to each other over a dialer program; so I guess that that will automatic bring them closer than anything…

…

"I think I'll quit football next semester, by the way." Luke told us with his mouth full of pasta.

"Why?" asked Dainton… in my place. Oh, my god, stop being jealous of your own boyfriend LOL.

"It's not… fun anymore." Luke shrugged. "I think I'll be better without it."

"And you can focus more on the studies." I joked.

"That's actually my plan." Luke's eyes glowed. "The three of us can have study sessions together a few days a week? Or… oh, that's right," he looked at Dainton, "I forgot that you're moving across the country in a few weeks."

I looked at Dainton too with sadness; felt more than ever that I needed these weeks with him before he moved. I could still see him every day, of course (that's the beauty with having powers), but we weren't going to have as much time for each other anymore. He was going to be busy studying harder than ever… me too; because I was going to try and get to his college next year. The absolutely worst thing about him moving, was that he wasn't going to be here for my birthday August twenty second; since he needs to be at campus on the twentieth to prepare for the school year that starts the ninth of September.

But we're going to make this work… We have to.

 **I'm sorry for the delay but here you go!**


	6. Chapter 4 - Joshie and The Beans, part 1

I felt that this chapter needed to be out soon, but I'm only finished with half of it! Part 2 won't take too long, though, so stay tuned : )

Don't forget to visit my tumblr where I upload my own fanart! _letsgetschwifty_

 **Joshie and the Beans** part 1

 **Bubbles**  
I had asked Mathilda, Jessica, Ginger and Henrietta to go with me to the _Scream and Crash_ \- festival in Forestville. Only Mathilda, Ginger and Henrietta _wanted_ to go, whilst only Mathilda and Ginger had _permission_ from their parents to go. Jessica just didn't want to, seeing she wasn't interested in concerts and festivals; and she was kind of scared of them, so I didn't nag her about it. Henrietta _couldn't,_ instead, since she was going to Spain with her family for a week and was going to be out of country that specific weekend. She was so sad that she couldn't go with us (she was the one that had nagged us to go, but we had turned that suggestion down every year).

I even asked Zac if he wanted to go, but I already knew the answer to that; he didn't like parties and festivals like this, and it was actually the same with me so I have no idea why I said yes to this trip! This isn't me… And now Mathilda, Ginger and I were all going to the _Scream and Crash_ -festival with Sam next weekend, so it was a little too late to decline now.

It was nine p.m. at the evening the same day we came home from the camp, and my friends and I were in my room and talked about everything as usual. They had been here for a few hours already and we had eaten pizza earlier.

"I still don't get how you've gotten so big in only three weeks." Said Jessica.

"Is it really that noticeable?" I asked and lifted the pillow from my lap. I could only see a little bump; as if I had eaten too much; but maybe that was because I was so used to myself and my friends hadn't seen me in three weeks.

"Yes! And what did they say over at the camp?" Mathilda asked. "I haven't read about it in any gossip magazine yet; so you're hiding it well."

"They probably just thought that I was fat." I blushed. "Only Susan knew, but we're not that fun to write about anymore; we were much more popular as kids."

Ginger scooted closer to me on the bed and leaned against my shoulder. "Show me the picture of Sam again."

Of course I had told them everything that had happened at the camp these three last weeks, and I had no choice but to tell them every single detail about this new, hot guy I met over there. I picked up my cellphone from under my pillow and searched for the picture Susan had sent to me an hour ago; the sneaky photo she shot of me and Sam in Foody yesterday. My friends all crawled closer to look at the photo, and they sighed loudly.

"He is so hot!" Henrietta almost growled, like an animal. "Honestly, Becca, I've never seen a hotter man than him."

"And he's not even a model." Jessica complained. "What a waste."

"If you don't take him then I will!" said Mathilda with a _you-snooze-you-lose_ -face. But I knew that she was teasing me (not that I cared). "I just want to take those cheek bones and delicious lips and put them in a cupcake, and then I'm gonna eat everything like-" she pretended to stuff her face with a big, invisible cupcake and we laughed.

"No, but seriously, Becca; he's a catch." Said Henrietta. "Not only his appearance, as it seems; but he has a great personality as well. He really is the Prince Charming from our dreams. And I speak for every girl in this room when I say that!"

"Amen!" said Jessica.

"He is, isn't he?" I sighed, and then it hit me that we had had this Prince Charming-convo before (a very, very long time ago), but back then the prince had been someone else… I'm tired of these feelings. I'm so tired. "Maybe I will find it in my heart someday to let him in."

"We won't pressure you." Said Ginger with her hands in the air in front of her. "But, with that said; he is superhot, super sexy, _European_ and apparently has the super personality of the year; so now we can just forget about him!"

"At least try." Mathilda muttered.

 **Buttercup**  
We were in the dining room, for once, at Robin's. She had been in her basement earlier today, scavenged for old board games for us to play this evening, and she had found _Franchise_ and _Sugar Land._ During a heated argument about who owned which road and how much you should fine in _Franchise_ , I just sat there and laughed watching my friends. I had already lost all my money long ago and now sat there, sipping my drink in silence. Liam was the one in the lead and owned almost every road on the board and Jake who sat across from him was also out.

"You're on Liam's road but I own twenty percent of it; so I'm entitled to twenty percent of that money!" Jonah yelled across the table.

"Well, then _you_ figure that out, genius! I don't know how to count in percentage!" Tilly snapped back.

"You _should_ know how to do that by now…" Robin tried really hard to speak through her laughter.

Derrec took his cellphone out of his pocket and began calculating on it.

"Let's do it this way…" said Liam, who earlier had been peacefully reclined back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

"No, no, no, no!" Derrec focusing mumbled. "… and divided by…"

They had all been drinking too much already; even I thought that; despite it only was half past nine in the evening. I still tried to keep my promise to Professor that I shouldn't drink that much… I wasn't supposed to drink at all, actually, but now it had been more than three weeks since I'd been partying; and that should really be counted to my advantage. This night was my reward.

I glanced at Liam who looked straight at me. It was almost like he had been trying to get my attention for a while now because I'd felt like I was being watched. And short hair did really suite him; he looked so much younger and… he was cute. He gave me a crooked smirk and chuckled. I smiled back but looked away almost immediately after; his gaze felt sort of intimate – it was very familiar to the look he had given me several times in the beginning of our relationship.

Oh, well. The game ended with Liam owning everything on that stupid board so we started playing poker instead and everybody started drinking more and faster than before. Liam kept giving me those glances the whole night and when the clock struck half past eleven I stood up from the living room couch to go to the door. All of my beer bottles were empty and I was sobering up; so it was time to head home.

"Going so soon?" Liam, who had been sitting on the other couch, asked.

"My curfew starts twelve."

"You have thirty minutes left."

"Yeah, but… I just need to do something at home." I grunted; I didn't want to say out loud that I was bored out of my mind.

"Wait for me." Liam stood up as well and followed me to the hallway. "I better be going too. Join me for a walk?"

"Okay." I looked past him to the living room. "Good night, guys!"

"Bye!" they shouted back, voices almost drowning in loud music and laughter. I wonder if they would have noticed both me and Liam leaving if I hadn't told them good night.

"Good night, Robin!" I shouted louder. She was in her bedroom with Jonah and didn't answer, so I presumed that they were busy.

Liam chuckled quietly as he was thinking the same as I did, and we both left Robin's house. "It's calm tonight." He noted, and meant both the 'party' and the summer night. "I've had a nice evening. You've missed all the big parties here and in Citiesville this summer. It's been chaotic."

"Nice." I echoed. It had actually felt good to be away from all of that for a few weeks. Did this mean that I was growing up?

We kept walking along the road through the neighborhoods and then walked across a football field to get to another neighborhood with apartment buildings. Liam talked about all the parties I had missed and none of them had actually sounded any tempting. Not at all.

"So what happened over there, at the camp?" he asked me.

I told him about the past three weeks, but somehow he didn't seem satisfied with my summary; as if I had left something out. He'd started to act weird around me and I sort of liked it…

 **Bubbles**  
The week went fast and next weekend was due. Sam called me from his car six a.m. Friday. It as a sunny morning and it looked like the weather was going to be like this the rest of the day, as well.

I have no idea how I could persuade Professor to let me be at the festival longer than planned; Sam couldn't be there any later than eight even though the band wasn't going to be playing before twelve.

Sam was going to drop his brother off in Townsville where he (the brother) was going to his band mate who was going to give him a ride the rest of the way to Forestville. Mathilda and Ginger joined me in the kitchen to wait for Sam to pick us up in an hour.

"By the way; does he… know?" asked Ginger quietly and pointed at my belly. I'd told them the week before that he was one of all people who didn't know about me, and she must've gotten even more suspicious after seeing me in the puffiest, short-sleeved top I owned which hid every female feature on my body.

"No." I admitted. "And it feels like I made a huge mistake for agreeing on going with him to Forestville today. Is it? Should I just had said no and gotten rid of him from the beginning?"

Mathilda sighed. "I don't know, dude. This is really messed up, and… no, I think it was a good thing that you agreed."

"Yeah." Said Ginger. "It's good for you to meet other guys. Maybe Sam will only become your friend, but maybe something more, too. But you'd never know if you never take the chance. Right?"

"You're right, guys. Thanks."

Brooke suddenly danced into the kitchen like a ballerina and fell down on the chair next to me; her face was glowing of excitement. She didn't usually behave like this and especially not around guests. And especially not this early in the morning!

"What's up?" I asked her with a wide smile, immediately forgetting the sad conversation a second ago.

She straightened herself in the chair, face getting all serious. "Professor didn't think that it was a good idea for you to go to that festival, after all."

"What? He already promised!" I said angrily. It wasn't like him at all to just change his mind like this. "Wait here." I told Mathilda and Ginger; I was really going to give him a game about this.

"Relax." Said Brooke and pulled me down into the chair again. "I fixed it. I told him that I could look after you. He hesitated a little but he came around." She chuckled.

I rolled my eyes – he never changed his mind in the first place. "You had to really _nag_ him to let you go, didn't you?"

"Well, okay. But is it cool that I hang out with you guys? Neither Robin nor Tilly could go…" she hesitated.

"Professor's only condition was that you'd stay close to us?"

"Something like that." She said, nonchalant.

I called Sam again and asked him if his brother could get Brooke a last second festival ticket; and of course he could.

…

One hour later a red Volvo parked on our driveway. Sam stepped out of the car and knocked on the door which Professor went to answer; he really wanted to meet this my-brother-is-in-a-band-guy.

"Greetings! I am Becca, Brooke and Betty's friend from camp. Sam Bailey."

Mathilda, Ginger, Brooke and I joined Professor in the hallway just as he took Sam's hand to shake. "Professor Utonium; the girls' father." He sounded strict, but at the same time; he seemed to like that Sam didn't look anything like Liam. "You're from Scotland?" he asked and for some reason sounded impressed. Maybe Professor thought that every man from Great Britain was a gentleman.

"Ireland, actually. We moved to the states a few years ago. I'm sorry but I just have to tell you that I've read all of your books and have followed your work like a cheetah follows the Thompson gazelle. You are truly the greatest scientist of this world."

Wow, was that really Sam? Was he just sucking up to Professor or did he really mean all of that? Well, he _did_ tell me that he applied for an Ivy League school and got in, but had declined, and maybe that was why he'd express his fascination of my sisters and me the first night at camp.

The back of Professor's neck turned red. "Oh, thank you, Sam. That was a remarkable first impression…" he mumbled and turned to look for me.

Sam leaned to the side to look around Professor; he'd spotted us as well. "Hey, guys. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, don't let him wait." Professor mumbled again, still a little shocked from all the compliments from a guy he had imagined a bit more… different.

"We're coming." I said joyfully and started to put my shoes on and the others followed my example.

We walked through the door but Professor stopped us. "You remember to come home straight after the performance from Sam's brother?" he reminded me.

"Yes, dad." I replied.

"One more thing. Brooke, you'll come home straight after Sam's brother's performance, as well. You will stay close to Becca _all_ the time." He warned her.

"I swear, okay?" she said as Professor gave her a strict glare.

"Okay." Brooke jumped into the backseat with Mathilda and Ginger. "Becca?" Professor stopped me one last time before letting me go. He lowered his voice: "Don't fall for her if she's nagging you to stay; you need to be strong and say no. Can I trust you?"

"Don't worry, dad." I patted his arm.

"Okay, good. Away with you, then. Don't let him hurt you."

My body reacted strongly hearing that sentence again; it felt like I'd been dipped in ice cold water and was being beaten with spiked bats all over my body at the same time. I quickly turned around to not let him see the reaction in my face; I must've turned pale. It felt like a needle penetrated my heart and some kind of suction in my stomach…

I got nauseous. It was like that sentence, spoken by Professor, was definite; it was settled that this was a date. A date with Sam. I shivered.

It can't be a date! My two friends and sister were going to be with us the whole time!

I flew to the car and literally jumped into the passenger seat next to Sam. I tried not to look at him but still waved to Professor through the windshield as I clumsily buckled up.

"Have fun!" he shouted as Sam backed up and rolled from our house towards Forestville.

I tried my hardest to disperse my thoughts and asked Sam about his trip and if he had seen anything fun along the road. Brooke; who sat behind me; leaned forward and put her chin on my seat to be part of the conversation. She didn't really know Mathilda and Ginger, and they were rather quiet for being them (at least Mathilda)… I bet they were shy around Sam.

"Well…" said Sam to answer my question. "Andy and I picked up a hitchhiker along the freeway who said that he was heading towards Townsville. A truly weird lad… didn't smell but looked like he hadn't showered in weeks. His hair was all tangled and he looked tired." Sam glanced at me and sometimes at Brooke while he talked with a big smile. "But when we arrived to Townsville he suddenly didn't want to go here anymore. He needed to go to Forestville… And since I was going to pick you guys up I was going to have a full car, so my brother told him that _he_ would take him there."

"Why did he change his mind?" Brooke asked.

Sam shrugged. "I actually don't know. He seemed nervous, as if he was going to murder someone. I'm glad that you called and said that Brooke was going with us; I wouldn't have trusted that guy in the back with the two of you." He first looked at me and then turned to try and look at Mathilda and Ginger who both immediately started to blush. "But I can be wrong, too. Maybe he was just tired."

"What if he was homeless?" I said, did actually feel sorry for the man.

"No, I don't think so; then he would've just stayed in Citiesville. There are a lot of shelters there."

…

Another hour later we reached a road made of gravel that led us straight through the woods. The sky turned dark as the trees blocked the sunlight. A little creepy. I felt that weird suction in my guts again; I had never been to a festival before, or at least not one like this – loud, wasted people that smuggle all kinds of drugs into the festival camp. A weight lifted from my body when I reminded myself that we weren't going to spend the night there.

It's not that I am scared – I mean; I'm a Powerpuff! I just don't like people that are so incredibly unpredictable. I don't enjoy being put in awkward and obnoxious situations with a person who can't control themselves because of a nasty pill or substance.

The woods opened up eventually on both sides of the dirt road and revealed a big open area with hundreds and hundreds of tents around the hilly area. Sam slowed down as we drove through a big gate, into the camp. People, in all ages (even as young as fourteen), looking like punk rockers and metal heads, were walking back and forth through the camp and crossing the road. Some of them looked like they had already drunk too much alcohol – and it was only eight p.m.

"We aren't going to park here, are we?" I asked nervously.

"No, are you crazy?" Sam chuckled but looked a bit disgusted as he spotted a guy with all black clothes who stood behind a bush close to some portable toilets… throwing up. "We're going a little further, closer to the stage. It's safer there and we're V.I.P.s."

We finally reached a second gate and Sam took a right turn into a muddier road to drive around the stage; and behind it was a third gate with a man standing in front of it – a security guard. Sam rolled up to him, rolled down his window and showed the guard the V.I.P. card. The security guard mumbled into his walkie-talkie and waved at Sam to continue through the gate that was electronically opening. Sam nodded back and drove into the behind-the-stage-area; and everywhere we saw black flags, banners and t-shirts with " _Scream and Crash summer festival 2010_ " written in white text with red outlines.

"Uh… can I stay in the car?" I had become extremely nervous after seeing all those drunken people on the camp sight, and I wasn't afraid of being called a chicken anymore. I really didn't feel like blending with festival people today.

"Don't be such a dweeb." Said Brooke, as expected, but Sam laughed.

"We won't be around those other people, remember?" he whipped out his V.I.P. card from his front pocket on his dark blue polo. "Come on; let's get earplugs. Yes; _that's_ how close we're gonna be!"

 **Boomer  
** _Earlier_  
The Mitchells dropped me off in Citiesville by dawn, and that's when I began walking again. I steered my steps towards the freeway; I was so tired of hitchhiking but I knew that I had absolutely no choice. I still wasn't ready to go home, but something told me that it was finally time. Maybe I was just homesick… but at the same time; I couldn't get _her_ out of my mind. My heart was constantly pulling me towards Townsville, towards her, and shouted that I should- no I had to!- beg her on my knees to _please_ take me back. But I didn't know how to start or what to say or what to do… I had no plan.

I walked backwards on the side of the freeway and showed all the drivers my thumb; to tell them that I needed to hitch a hike. I was solemnly hoping that someone was going to stop soon since they almost never did. Sometimes, these past couple of weeks, I have been pointing my thumb to the skies for hours without any luck; but this day a car stopped only ten minutes in. It was like destiny.

It was a red Volvo that slowed down when the driver saw me, and the black haired passenger rolled down his window to talk to me. "Going?" he asked with a wide smile on his face. It didn't sound like he was from these parts of the state.

"Townsville." I replied.

"Get in." said the driver who had dark mahogany hair.

I got into the backseat and scooted to the middle of it. From behind; these guys (they were about my age) almost looked like my brothers. I had been thinking about them a lot these past months, and I've even started to miss them some.

The black haired guy clipped off his seatbelt (the driver glanced at him and rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything) and turned around to face me. "Do you know of this band?" he asked and nodded to the stereo where a sort of fast and… blatant punk rock music was blaring out from the speakers.

I shrugged. "No, sorry." I said, but tried to sound curious.

The black haired guy pointed at himself and then at the stereo. "That's me playing the guitar!"

"Oh, wow, you're good. What's the name of the band?"

" _Joshie and the beans_!" he laughed.

"Which instrument are you playing?" I asked the mahogany haired driver.

"No, no. I'm just the big brother. I'm not in the band." He replied.

"Should I ask you to sign my chest?" I laughed.

The black haired guy laughed with me. "We're not that big yet! But we're going to perform at the _Scream and Crash_ -festival this afternoon. Do you know which one?"

"The one in Forestville?" didn't Zac mention that festival once while talking about his mother who lived out there?

"Yup." The black haired guy came off a bit as a show off, but he was alright. He quickly turned around to lower the sound on the stereo when the driver's cell phone rang, and then turned to me again. "Why don't you come with?"

"Sorry, I don't have a ticket." I just said and shrugged.

"That's too bad; you seem cool." He gave me a crooked smile. "I'm Andrew, by the way, and my brother's Sam." The ginger was still talking in his cell phone and didn't seem to be bothered about us talking over his head.

"Leo." I replied.

"It doesn't sound like you're from here, Leo. Have you been hitchhiking all the way from Texas?"

"I grew up in Texas but moved to Washington two years ago; that's why I've got the accent. You?"

"Ireland. We moved five years ago; but the American accent is just too boring!"

"I guess you're right!" I chuckled. "No need to try and adapt when you can have so much more fun with all your own words."

"Like _langered_."

" _Snog_."

" _Whanker_."

" _Knacker_."

" _What_ is going on?" Sam finally hung up the phone and just stared at his brother in the passenger seat. Both Andrew and I were laughing till our lounges wheezed.

…

During those twenty minutes driving on the freeway from Citiesville to Townsville, I kind of dosed off, but when Sam turned off the freeway I started to feel pain in my stomach. We were getting closer to Townsville and I felt it in my guts once we passed the welcome sign. I considered opening the window and throw up out of it… or jump.

"So, where to?" Sam asked.

"Uh… I- uh…" I felt sweat running down my back. "Actually; I changed my mind; I need to go to Forestville, after all. If it's not too much to ask for?" he hadn't turned off the main road yet and could keep driving to come to Forestville.

The Irish brothers looked at each other, a little concerned, as if I had said something upsetting.

"Err, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna drop off Andy here and then pick up some friends. I'm gonna have a packed car all the way to the festival." Said Sam.

Andrew looked at me in the mirror. "The drummer drives a van, so you can come with us. He lives here in Townsville so we have to make a stop there first. Is that alright with you?"

"Sure! Thanks! That's super." Anything except having to face my parents today.

Luckily enough; I didn't know any of the guys at the driveway of a house I had never seen, on a street I had never been on. I was safe… for now.

"Oi! I have a guy here who needs a ride to Forestville, Josh. I hope you're fine with that, are ya?" Andrew pointed at me as we got closer to the group of colorful guys outside the house. Sam drove off in his red Volvo.

They were packing the maroon van with instruments and big black boxes, but stopped when they saw me. The guy with the shock pink hair answered: "I'm fine with that. Hi, I'm Josh." I shook his hand and introduced myself. "I am Joshie in _Joshie and The Beans_ ; but you got that."

"James with a G." said the next person with a calm and deep voice. He had long, blonde hair. Longer than mine.

"With a G?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's spelled ' _games'_ , but you pronounce it like James. My mom was insane when she was younger." Games rolled his eyes. "She wanted me to be special."

"What's worse is that he needs to explain his name every time he meets someone new." Andy laughed.

"It's kinda sad." Said Games and looked at me again. "Are you going to the festival alone?"

"I don't have a ticket."

"You live there?"

"My friend."

"But we can get him in… right?" said a tall guy with black hair, like Andrew's, and makeup around his eyes. He was carrying another big black box to the van. "Surely you want to come with? We're in need of a mascot! And you look like a fun guy."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "That's Dylan; the singer; if you wondered why he's so… pushy. Everyone thinks that _he's_ Joshie-"

"- since he's the one in the lead on stage." Said Josh.

"And is the loudest." Said Games.

"Josh plays the guitar with me, and Ryan; who's coming now; is the drummer." Andrew continued to introduce everyone to me. Ryan was the one with the longest hair of us all, but it was brown and curly. "Games play the bass, and William… who isn't here yet; is our personal recordist and sound guy."

Fifteen minutes later, I sat squeezed in between some amplifiers (those were those black boxes from before), electric guitars, a bass guitar, a drum set, endless chords and wires, and Andrew, Games, Josh and William. Ryan drove the van since it was his and Dylan sat in the passenger seat.

"Who's the hippie, by the way?" asked William, the sound guy, and looked at me with tired eyes. He looked… affected by something, but I couldn't figure out as of what. And excuse me; hippie? I was not the only one in this van with long hair!

"It's our new mascot; Leo!" said Andrew and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Have you been backpacking or something?" asked Ryan, the drummer with the crazy, curly hair.

Right then and there, I became vigorously aware of my appearance for the first time in days; my clothes must've been dirty and my hair tangled. Everything I owned I had in my old hockey bag – and that contained even dirtier clothes.

"Yeah, something like that." I replied stupidly. "I mean; yes. Yes, I have."

"So you live in Forestville?" asked William. I got a little surprised that he kept track of the conversation due to his state.

"No, my friend lives there."

"Do you want us to pick him up first?" Ryan asked from the driver's seat.

"He's actually at the festival already." I lied.

"So you are coming with us? Sweet!" Josh smacked my back with his palm and Andrew gave me a fist bump.

Dylan, the singer from the front seat, opened a plastic bag by his feet and threw me a beer bottle which I caught. He passed beer bottles around the van; even to Ryan who drove; but instead of pointing anything out I thanked him for the beer and twisted the cap open.

…

The van slowed down once we reached a dirt road in the middle of the woods. Festival people crossed the road to get to their tents in the camp sight. Why there was a road in the middle of the camp instead of having the camp somewhere else, is something I will wonder about for a long time… Ryan didn't stop here, though, but made a turn to the right and drove on a smaller dirt road deeper into the forest and finally reached a tall gate behind the stage and festival area. What looked like a security guard waved us in.

Ryan rolled down his window, and Dylan threw himself over his lap to show the guard a card, maybe some kind of V.I.P. card or license. "The Beans!" he shouted and stuck out his tongue.

The guard said something in his walkie-talkie and the gates opened for us. Ryan thanked him and drove into the area. We were now behind the stage and I saw several cars and vans and trucks there, and Ryan parked the car closest to the stage. People with black t-shirts and headsets looked like they were escorting and showing other bands around the area.

"My brother's already here." Andrew noted. Sam's red Volvo was there, but we couldn't spot him or his friends.

"The Beans!" a, about thirty years old, man headed towards us with white, thorny hair and big red shades. He had several piercings in his eyebrows, nose and in his ears, and tattoos along his arms. He was wearing a tight, brown vest over a green checkered, short sleeved shirt; a pair of brown skinny jeans, and brown pointy leather boots. "Welcome! I am Riggo Scream." He shook everyone's hands. "Viltan Crash is somewhere around this place. He's going to want to meet you as well before you start. Who's the hippie?" he then asked with a curious smile at me.

Riggo Scream and Viltan Crash? They must be the owners of the _Scream and Crash_ -festival.

"This is our mascot – Leo!" said Dylan and threw his arm around my shoulders, just as Andrew had done in the van earlier.

"So he's with you?" asked Riggo. "He's going to be on stage with you?"

"Oh, no, no, no…" I chuckled. "I'm just here as… moral support. It's my energy, you know? I just have to be here, but not to be seen."

Riggo just stared at me, but burst into laughter together with Andy, Josh, Games, Dylan, Ryan and William.

"Is there a V.I.P. card just lying around here for him?" Andy asked.

Riggo excitedly slammed his hands together and smiled at us all before turning to the stage people in black t-shirts. "Set up a V.I.P. for the hippie, here!"

I had no idea what I was doing or why I was here, but something told me that this day was going to be quite exciting.


	7. Chapter 4 - Joshie and The Beans, part 2

Thank you ERIN. BABYCAKES (for some reason I really can't write your whole name here! but there is a 456 after the name and no space) for the favorite, follow and comment! I wish that more reviewed too, because I've been working on this fanfiction for almost twelve years now :O :) I hope that you'll keep reading because I will keep translating ^^

 **Buttercup**  
It was _sooo_ cool! I was actually _inside_ the festival area this time! And better yet; I was V.I.P.! I was a _Very Important Person_ and could go behind the stage and meet all the bands! I hadn't met _Joshie and The Beans_ yet, because they had been really busy before they started; but Sam had promised me to introduce me to them after their performance! I just wanted to scream, and I did!

When _Joshie and The Beans_ entered the stage Sam told everybody's names, and I found out that Joshie wasn't the singer, and I don't remember the name of him now either, but they were all so hot and I would never imagine that they would be in the same age as me! Sam's brother, Andrew (the guitarist), was sooo handsome! He and Sam looked almost identical only Andy's taller, has green eyes instead of brown, and black hair! Even though it's seemed impossible, but; Sam wasn't number two on my hotness list anymore, now he was number three.

"This is awesome!" I shouted during the drum solo. "I've been dreaming of this day for years!"

"But you've been here every summer for the past couple of years!" Becca shouted back with her hands protecting her ears; having super hearing did not help her aversion to be here.

I'd been flying over here every summer to listen to the music; but I had never ever been this close. I couldn't risk anybody to see me; paparazzi are good at taking sneaky photos and sell them to journalists – and if you thought being caught drinking was tough on Professor… If he knew that I'd been here for the last couple of years he would die. He would just drop dead.

And today he finally said yes!

"It's not the same!" I shouted just as two girls behind the fence snapped a photo of me with their digital cameras. "This is a completely different feeling!"

The word of two powerpuffs being present was quickly spread throughout the audience; and soon enough all the cameras were pointed at us instead of at the band on stage. It had been a long time ago since someone saw us as anything more than just ordinary students around here; people from around the world was visiting this festival, and I bet that the majority had never seen us in real life before. I turned around to pose for some of the pictures, because; why not? It's a party here!

"Buttercup!" someone shouted to get my attention.

I frowned and turned to the stage again; that person was absolutely not going to have a nice picture of me now!

"Wow! I am at my _brother's_ first concert ever, and I'm standing with the most famous people _underneath_ the stage!" Sam shouted to Becca and me.

 **Bubbles**  
Sam's little brother's bawling punk rock music was blaring out from the speakers around the stage. It was so loud I started to get dizzy. Mathilda, Ginger and Brooke were all jumping up and down while screaming and laughing; _they_ seemed to have a great time ("This is my song!" Brooke squealed, and hugged both Mathilda and Ginger while the singer sang something about lemons). My head felt like it was going to explode in a minute but I didn't have the heart to leave before the band had finished. Sam had looked so happy when I told him that I would go with him to this festival.

And, as always, as if he had read my mind he got closer to me and said: "You wanna get away from here?"

"Wouldn't you mind?" I felt embarrassed over how I reacted to this music.

He told Brooke, Mathilda and Ginger that we were just going for a walk, away from the speakers, and I could swear that Mathilda winked at me before Sam turned me around with his hand on my back. I can't even try do describe the relief I felt in my head once we were in eye sight of his car… it was… well, indescribable. I took the earplugs out of my ears; they hadn't helped a lot anyways, to be honest.

"Was it too much?" Sam asked me gingerly.

"I've never been on a festival this loud before." I admitted, embarrassed.

"It's okay." He unlocked the car, opened the door to the backseat and gestured that I could sit, but he stood outside the car with the door open. "We can still hear them from here."

"We actually can… I'm sorry, I can sit here alone; there's no need for you to miss Andy's big gig."

"I was there for the two first songs; they are his favorites. He saw me." Sam shrugged. "I'd rather be here with you. I mean-" he hurried to say. "- I don't want you to be here by yourself."

"Because I'm so helpless?" I teased him.

"Well, yeah." He teased me back and scratched the back of his neck. "Someone needs to save you if there are any burglars around."

I giggled. "Thanks." Sam gave me that wide, hopeful smile again with glowing eyes. "Hey…" I said and bit my lip, tried to steel myself for what was coming. "I need to tell you something."

"What?" he looked genuinely surprised.

"I haven't told you the reason why my…" I swallowed that stupid lump that always seemed to be in my way every time I thought about him. "… ex left me. It isn't fair for you if you don't know; this is a big part of why I can't date you."

"Even if you'd been _insane_ , Becca, I'd still want to be with you."

"It's bigger than that." I sighed.

"Nothing is reason enough to leave you this devastated. You're the nicest person in the world; I know that, even though I've known you personally for only a month."

"I can agree on that it was a bad reason to break up, but still… I feel that I owe you an explanation."

Sam took a deep breath, as if he was preparing. "Okay." He spread his legs for balance and crossed his arms over the chest. "I'm ready."

"Three-" my voice cracked, I cleared my throat. "Three months ago I told him that… that I…" clearing throat again. "… am pregnant."

"You are… now?" Sam pointed at my belly region with his whole hand, and wide eyes. "You're pregnant now?"

I nodded quietly.

He spun around with his palms tightly pressed on the top of his head, nails clawing the scalp, almost pulling his hair out. He turned to me with wild eyes. "You told him that you were pregnant and he broke up with you?" he asked, looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"He didn't… expressly… break up with me; he was just sort of… gone the next day."

"He left?!" Sam almost yelled. "You told him that you were _pregnant_ – with _his_ child – and he just got up and left? With _his_ child?" Sam just repeated what I had said, still extremely upset and angry. His eyes watered up out of rage.

I do understand now why he got so immensely upset; he love children with all his heart. It started with him being a substitute parent for his siblings growing up (his father had left his mother to raise four children on her own), and all he wanted to do with his life was to play music for children in schools or at camps. That was just who he was. And now I've made him into this wreck with my stupid problems… Of course I wanted to be honest with him, but to what cost?

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." I begged him, and of course I had started to cry.

"No, no, no…" Sam hurried over to me and put his hands on my cheeks. "It's not your fault, Becca, you got that? I'm sorry I got so mad… I just can't believe-" he stood up again and looked around – _the Beans_ were still playing in the background. "How could he just- how can a man simply abandon-!" he growled. "If I ever get hold of him-"

"No!" I shouted as I reached out to him; as if I was going to stop him from seeking my ex out. But it was totally unnecessary of me; what are the odds to run into _him_ here? "Please, you don't have to feel that way. I have… I mean; I will let go of him. Sooner or later I need to forget about him. And the twins will be just fine, I promise."

Sam sat down on his knees in front of me and looked at me. "I'm really sorry, Becca. I'm sorry that he left. You don't deserve that." His eyes were still shiny, but not out of rage this time. " _They_ don't deserve that… I just can't believe why someone would do something like this… His own children…"

"I got surprised as well." I admitted. "It wasn't like him one bit."

"Are you- I mean; are you sure that he really left?" Sam referred to Professor's abduction last Christmas.

"Believe me, Sam; I know. My sisters and I searched for him the second we understood that something was wrong – I had been at his house thirty minutes before we started the search. The night after that, his brother told us that we should stop searching for him, because he didn't want to be found."

"Okay…" his eyebrows dropped again. "I just get so fu- I'm actually getting really pissed. How could he?"

"I don't know…"

Sam leaned forward against my knees; put his arms in my lap and his head resting on his arms. I thoughtfully began to stroke his dark mahogany hair; as if _I_ was consoling _him_.

"It doesn't change anything, by the way." He mumbled from his arms but looked up.

I chuckled. "Same here… but…"

"There's still a 'but'." He gave me a sad smile.

"I will be highly busy with school and the twins when they arrive. In all honesty; I will have no time over for a relationship on top of that. I'm just not ready, I don't think that I ever will- Sorry, but I won't have any time for you, and everything will be so… You deserve better-"

"Please, stop. I understand." He stood up but leaned forward to put his hands on my cheeks again. "I appreciate that you're being honest with me; that's actually what matters the most. We can still be friends, and you can call me – day or night – and I'll come running. And maybe someday; far, far into the future; you can maybe consider agreeing on going out with me." He chuckled and looked down on my belly. "Do you think that you will be available after their college graduations?"

I laughed. "Maybe after they've finished high school, at least." I smiled, felt my eyes filling with tears again and reached for his cheek with my fingers. "Thank you."

He took my hand and kissed the palm, and then I rose up to hug him. Tight and long.

 **Boomer**  
It can't be true. It just can't be! Of all the places on earth; I run into her here? What was she doing here? Had she gotten permission from her father?

I crouched behind the stage and felt the panic sparkle throughout my body; my heart was pounding against my ribs and the blood was shooting to my ears. She hadn't spotted me yet. Maybe I could get out without her noticing me.

If I had had a death wish, then I would've sought Brooke Utonium out a long time ago; and today was not that day.

Easy on my steps I got myself to the parking lot behind the stage. The only way out; that I knew of; would be through the fence gate with the security guards, and if I could only get there then I could run through the forest and hide there until the festival was over next Sunday. But I spotted another way out of these woods once I saw all the cars around me; Sam. Andrew's brother, who had given me a ride to Townsville, sat on the ground outside of his red Volvo and leaned into the backseat as if he was searching for something. I didn't have the chance to call him, though, before the panic, once again, shot through me like a lightning bolt.

Rebecca! He was lying in her lap with his entire upper body!

I spat out a surprised growl as I threw myself to the left behind a van, before suffocating a howl by putting my fist in my mouth. I just laid there, my back nailed to the ground with my heart pounding so hard in my chest that it felt like I was jumping like a fish on dry land. But as my heart beat was racing I slowly got up on my knees and crept to the edge of the van to see what they were doing in that Volvo.

Now they stood up… hugging each other.

So _that_ was what Sam was going to do? He drove into Townsville to pick up Becca and Brooke, and apparently two more because his car was going to be full. But what if the car hadn't been full? What if I had gone with him just to be forced to throw my ass out of a moving car once I realized where we were heading?

Who is he to her, by the way? Why were they hugging? Why was she _here_ , on this festival?

I felt my blood boiling and the anger overshadowed my anxiety. Why had he taken her to a festival, with people like these, and above all; with _my_ child in her tow?

They let go of each other and began walking towards the festival area again, and I didn't think more about it; just about the exit through the gates. I made my way unscathed to the woods and ran faster than I've ever run with my hockey bag on my shoulder. It had been too close today; I could never give Brooke a chance to rip me apart again. Next time she'll be alone… and if she sees me before I see her… my brother taught _me_ that lesson – never fuck with Brooke Utonium.

The woods eventually brightened up and the trees stood further apart from each other. I had been walking for half an hour without following any particular path, so seeing light felt like a blessing for me. I knew that the woods were deep in these parts of the state; I did not have time to get lost right now. I saw a road ahead of me, a dirt road, so this could not be a main road where cars drive all the time. This road must lead to a smaller society.

I continued my journey on that road for an additional forty minutes until I spotted a bunch of cabins near a big lake. It didn't look like someone was living in them, not permanently at least. It could be some kind of camp but it didn't look abandoned.

I adjusted the bag on my shoulder, walked down to the lake and put it down on the only wharf there. I opened the bag and started pulling out my dirty clothes. I could as well try and wash them now that nobody was around.

…

The sun was hot in the blue sky, and based on its position I could determine that the time was around two or three p.m. I had hung the 'clean' clothes to dry on a tree's branches and went into the water myself to try and clean myself off. I had been bathing in lakes for the past two weeks or so; having the luxury to take a hot shower was something I had really taken for granted. I'll never do that again.

Once I was finished I sat on the wharf for a while to dry in the sun. It felt nice, warm, and I could finally try and sort my thoughts out. How long had I been away from Townsville now? Two… three… four months? And about two whole months out of Washington… My whole body, no my soul, hurt only thinking about what a coward I had been. And still am. How could I just run away like that? I was scared; yes, that was the reason. But was it a good reason? Fuck no. No, it fucking was _not_.

I sighed, felt that annoying pain in my stomach; I hadn't had anything to eat in almost two straight days.

I put my damp jogging pants on and walked around the biggest building that also looked like it was the newest. I looked through the windows to try and spot a kitchen of some sort and finally found it. First I saw something that looked like a big canteen with colorful drawings on the walls. So this was a children's summer camp? I began feeling bad for what I was going to do…

I walked a little further along the wall and found a smaller window; it was the kitchen linked to the canteen. I wanted to shoot myself when I did it, but I knew that I had to. I picked up a big rock from the ground and smashed it into the window to break the glass. It felt so wrong but in the same time; I had gotten so used to this that I almost didn't feel bad anymore.

I swept broken glass from the windowsill, grabbed it and crawled through window. Sometimes it's an advantage being this tall. I landed on the floor and breathed in the sultry kitchen air, and waited. But it was silent; no alarm.

The cabinets above and underneath the counters were all locked with padlocks, but they were no match for me seeing I had this remarkable gift. I held the lock in my hand and watched it glow, and then I mentally face palmed myself once I realized I could've used this power on so many doors these past months. The padlock snapped opened. The only food I found in that cabinet was two cans with baked beans in tomato sauce, a big can of corn and a small can of tuna in oil. That would be enough for tonight at least; I thought to myself and started searching through the drawers that was not locked. I finally found what I was looking for; a paper and a pen; and wrote down:

 _Sorry I was hungry –homeless_

I put the note clearly visible on the countertop before crawling back out with my stolen food. There was no need to open the doors to get out; I could only unlock doors, I had no idea how to lock them again.

That night I slept outside the camp's canteen, under the tree where my clothes were hanging. I planned on staying there the next day as well, to rest, before starting the search of Zac's mother's house.


	8. Chapter 5 - The Wedding

**The wedding**

 **Professor**  
Buttercup and Blossom helped me in the backyard in Forestville the day before the wedding, on a Sunday. Bubbles was seeing her midwife for an examination, and Irene was with her. Both Liam and Luke volunteered to help us carry around chairs and tables to the garden, but Buttercup insisted on doing that herself with Blossom; but they were still invited to the wedding tomorrow together with their parents; Charles and Daniella Berger.

My mother was here now as well; I picked her up at the airport while Bubbles and Buttercup were over at that festival; and she spreads joy wherever she is. She and Blossom helped Irene pick up the wedding dress in town this morning.

Zac, Gordon, Luke and Liam were going to be my groomsmen at the wedding, and Dainton my best man. Blossom came with that suggestion seeing Dainton was actually my closest male friend even though I had none to begin with (Charles has become very dear to me, but I don't know if I would've had the courage enough to ask him to be my _best_ man). Dainton was the one I had known for the longest time, and he and I always got along well. Irene wanted Zac and Gordon to be my groomsmen, and I'm fine with that; they're like my own sons by now, and Buttercup wanted Liam and Luke to be my groomsmen as well, just to, ahem, ' _pump up those numbers_ ', in her own words. I think that she meant that I needed at least four groomsmen and one best man, because that looked better.

My brother Eugene was also invited, naturally, and if he hadn't been so busy all the time maybe I would've asked him to be my best man. But it seemed like he wasn't even going to show up at all. He hadn't picked up his phone in months, but that was normal for being him… The only one he talked to nowadays was our mother, and she swore that he was alright, though he hadn't replied to the invitation yet.

Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles were going to be Irene's bridesmaids. She had a few friends coming to the wedding from Townsville and Citiesville, but she really loved the idea of triplets wearing the same dresses by her side.

"When did that happen?" Blossom asked the person in her cellphone who had ringed without me noticing it. "Were there any blood?" … "So you don't want us to… okay. Well, I'm glad no one was hurt."

"Who was that?" I asked her when she hung up. Buttercup had presumably heard everything with her super hearing.

"It was Susan Waspbury from the camp. A neighbor had been jogging by the camp site this morning and noticed that the window to the kitchen was broken. Someone had broken in."

"Didn't she want you girls to investigate?"

"No… she said that the burglar had taken some cans, and that he had left a note."

"What did it say?"

"' _Sorry, I was hungry, homeless_ '."

"Oh…" I said thought struck, had mixed feelings about the situation. "So she didn't want anything to be done?"

"Her husband is going to put up some movement sensors and spotlights; just in case he comes back. Maybe it will scare him off."

"Yeah… And maybe it's not a very good idea to leave food there over summer."

"No, she said that too… But let's not talk about that anymore, Professor. You're getting married tomorrow so you can only have happy thoughts until then!"

Only two days left, and then it'll all be over.

 **Bubbles**  
The day before the wedding, Irene followed me to the women's clinic as promised, and Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica and Henrietta sat in the waiting room this time as well.

"Hi, Rebecca, it's so nice to see you again." Said my midwife, Emily, who I had met the last time, a month ago. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine, thank you. How are you?"

"I'm fine, too. Irene, was it?" she shook Irene's hand and Irene nodded. "Come here, sit down, Becca." She made a hand gesture towards the chair next to her office chair. "How are you feeling physically? Are you tired, hungry, nauseous? Are you having mood swings?"

"I'm actually tired and hungry all the time, but no mood swings that I know of…" I remembered the time at the camp; all those confusing feelings towards Sam and when I got mad at my sisters for watching him by the lake in the middle of the night. I decided not to count those as mood swings… "I'm not nauseous, neither in the morning nor at night. That's weird, isn't it?"

"Everyone experience pregnancy differently. Some get nauseous in the morning and some in the evenings; some feel sick in the beginning of the pregnancy, some in the middle, and some by the end of it. You're completely normal, even though you're expecting twins. I guess it's those super powers of yours that make you this resistant – which is not a bad thing at all. Let's check on the twins, shall we?"

I stood up, walked over to the bed and sat down on it before taking my shirt off. Emily began checking mine and the fetuses' hearts. Ever since I got pregnant, normal instruments such as the ultrasound machine and the stethoscope mysteriously started to work on my body. Professor didn't seem too worried about that, and told me that I shouldn't be either. He said that it could just be the hormones messing around with my powers, making me a little bit more vulnerable.

"Well, everything looks good. I still can't take your blood sample or check your blood pressure; so this will work for now." Said Emily and gave me a mischievous glance. "Are you curious of to know the genders?"

"We can do that now?" it felt like my eyes were sparkling.

"I really think that we can." She went through the same procedure as last time; she squeezed the viscous lube on my belly and started to drag the cashier thingy (which I now know is a transducer probe) around while looking at the monitor. She turned it so that I could see it too. "This is baby number one," she said and pointed at one of the lumps that actually started to look like a person now. My tears were watering up a bit but I tried to focus. "And this is baby number two. Since we're in month five, it's normal for them to be in that position; they won't have their heads downwards until the third trimester. Did we say last time that they were monozygotic?"

"That they're identical, sweetie. They share the same egg." Irene explained when I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh… is that a good thing?" I felt so stupid asking that question, but since my sisters and I were never being born like normal persons, I had never really thought about it, even though we call ourselves triplets.

"It certainly is!" Emily giggled. "There was a bigger chance of them being conjoined, but we can see here on the display that they're just fine. And both of them will turn out just as unique as you and your sisters. Hm…" she kept swirling the probe around and pressed it down a little harder on some spots. "It seems like the machine is a little grumpy today." Emily adjusted the wires and straightened a few of them. "The picture is really grainy… I don't understand. But if you look closely here," she pointed with her finger into the flickery mess on the monitor, and I still don't know what she saw that day, but she is the professional so, "this is a boy." My heart skipped a beat. "And fetus number two is… a girl. Congratulations, mommy. You will have two healthy and strong small ones to look forward to. One of each, even."

"Congratulations, sweetie." Irene whispered, stood up and walked over to us to look at the babies.

Then it hit me so hard it felt like someone had smacked me on the head with a chair. I started to shake, to sweat. "He will look like… the boy is going to look like him…" I felt the first tear run down my cheek, still staring at the display.

"I'll give you a few minutes." Said Emily, she realized that I didn't cry out of happiness.

"No, please. This is your office, I should leave." I cried.

"I'll be at the reception. Come and get me when you're ready." Emily said with a calm voice, with a hand on Irene's shoulder.

"Thank you." Irene said and then turned to me. Emily left the room.

"What gender are they?" I heard Mathilda ask my midwife before the door closed.

"Why are you sad, Becca?" Irene asked me while handing me paper towels I could wipe myself off with; both belly and face.

"The twins." I replied through sobs. "The twins are… going to look… look like _him_. I'm going to see his face… every day for the rest of my… of my life, but it won't be _him_. Not for real."

She let me cry for a few moments before answering me. "The girl will look like you… But listen here now, and listen good." I got surprised over how angry she suddenly sounded. "I was in this exact situation when I was your age, when I gave birth to Zac's brother Gordon. Their father left while Gordon was still in my belly, and he looked just like him when he was delivered. But honestly; whenever I looked at Gordon, I saw _Gordon_ , I did never see Rex in him. Ever. I don't see the resemblance today either, even though I know that he looks more like his father. So don't you ever think in those tracks again; your little boy is going to grow up to be an amazing person; those babies will never remind you of that selfish, loathsome, pathetic little brat!"

I had never seen Irene this angry before, like when she talked about my ex-boyfriend and her ex-husband. It was like all women in the world (who had once been screwed over by a man) had gone into her soul and were now sending me a message, a message that I shouldn't waste any more time and energy on my asshole ex-boyfriend.

"Got it?" Irene turned to me again with fire in her eyes.

"I do… thanks…" I replied a little frightened, but oh, so much more encouraged.

"Good, now I will go get that midwife back so that we can get out of this place, and then we buy three gallons of chocolate ice cream."

I laughed and watched her walk out of the door to go and get Emily.

"Can we come in?" Henrietta asked, but Irene didn't answer.

 **Blossom**  
I felt sleepless the night before the wedding. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't fall asleep; I felt so tense and nervy! It was going to be so fun, so nice and beautiful to witness the start of Professor's up to now biggest adventure ever. He was going to get married to someone he truthfully deserved; Irene was really the ultimate mate for him. She was kind, intelligent and perky; it was only a big plus that she was also one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. He is lucky to have her, but so is she.

Now that our families were going to merge together, Professor realized that it would be a matter of space in our little house in Townsville, so he had persuaded my sisters and me to move to Irene's house in Forestville after the wedding. They had already planned to build a secondary house in the backyard where Becca, Brooke and I were going to live; a kind of big little guest house with three bedrooms and a big bathroom. Zac and Gordon had their own bedrooms in the main house, but we didn't feel like kicking them out only because they had their own bedrooms in the town as well.

Well, somehow I actually fell asleep, and once I woke up the morning after, I flew out of bed just as I opened my eyes, put on my robe on the move, and then continued into the kitchen. The clock on the kitchen wall ticked two minutes to seven, so it was still loads of time left before the wedding started this afternoon.

One hour and twenty minutes later, Professor entered the kitchen.

"Good morning! Did you have a good night's sleep? Coffee?"

"Good morning, yes, thank you, and yes, please." He yawned and sat down by the table. It did not look like he had been sleeping at all last night. I poured him some coffee and put the cup in front of him.

"I called Zac, he and Gordon will be here ten o'clock. Mr. Berger, Luke and Liam are getting ready at their house, but will be here at eleven. I told Dainton that he should be here earlier to help you, and pep everybody since I'm going to Irene's soon-"I was interrupted by the doorbell. "That's him at the door." I flew to open the door and was back in the kitchen only a second later.

"I really can't fathom how lucky I am to have you, Betty." Professor whispered and took a sip of his steaming coffee.

Half past nine I went upstairs to wake my sisters up, none of them easily awakened. Becca was hard to wake because of her pregnancy. She was so tired nowadays, but had a hard time to sleep every night on top of that, even though she was exhausted, so I get why she wanted to sleep in. And Brooke… well, Brooke was never easy to get out of bed.

"Come on now, guys! We need to be at Irene's soon and do our hair and makeup. The wedding starts in five hours!" I shouted while running back and forth in the upstairs hallway, between their bedroom doors.

"I'm up…" Becca mumbled from her bedroom. Brooke just moaned.

Becca went down the stairs to eat breakfast only a few minutes later, but Brooke didn't leave her room until someone rang the doorbell the second time; Zac and Gordon were here.

"You don't have time to eat now; you can eat at Irene's." I told Brooke and grabbed her arm when she tried to sneak past me to the kitchen. "The styling team will be there in two hours, and we need to shower, _thoroughly_ , before they do our hair and makeup."

We flew, slowly, with Becca between us to Forestville where Irene lived, and that's where the wedding was going to be. It wasn't hard finding the house; it was a dark timber house that easily melted into the surrounding woods; but it was really big, one of the biggest houses out there.

Grandma was already there and was in full swing with making breakfast for Irene. "Have you've been eating?" she asked when we entered the kitchen.

"Not Brooke." I replied. "Where's Irene?"

"She's in the shower."

"The dogs?"

"In the back."

"Brooke," I turned to my green eyed sister who stood behind me and yawned, "take the dogs to the doggy daycare about one mile that way." I pointed in the direction that lead deeper into the woods, farther away from the city. "Don't carry them; walk them, so that they won't be too much of a problem for the staff this time. And don't forget to pick up the altar at Mr. Dresdner's."

"But food…"

"You can eat later." The door to the downstairs bathroom opened. "You can shower now, Becca, and I'll go in afterwards."

While Irene ate breakfast I flew up to her bedroom upstairs. I pulled out mine, Becca's and Brooke's golden dresses, and hung them over the stair railings; I left Irene's dress in the closet, the last thing I wanted right now was to ruin one of the most important things in this wedding. I flew down again to talk to her; she ate her oatmeal with shaky hands.

"The styling team will be here twelve o'clock; I've already called them to check if they're gonna be on time. The photographer arrives an hour before we start, and she wanted to take pictures of us before the guests come." I kept talking like I was checking off a list. "The caterers and the bartender are coming half past three, so the food will be ready at five, and Mr. Malone said that he will be here one o'clock sharp… are you okay?" I realized that my organized blabbering was stressing her out.

"I'm fine, thank you, Betty." She exhaled, as if she had been holding her breath. "Where's the others?"

"Becca's in the shower and Brooke took the dogs to the daycare. I'll pick them up first thing tomorrow morning."

"You're so kind, helping us in this chaos. I don't know how to thank you."

"No problem." I smiled, and decided to just let her trust me with this entire wedding.

 **Bubbles**  
The shower was the peak of the day. My skin felt soft after the usage of the really expensive body products that Irene had bought for us the day before. Instead of having a bachelorette party, she said that we were going to get spoiled by these products and by the styling team later on. I opened the bag Betty had packed for me the night before (yes, I'm _that_ spoiled now that I'm pregnant…) to get dressed in something comfortable while the styling team worked on me for hours. When I reached down in my bag my heart almost stopped. I spotted some red fabric in there, and I knew that I got rid of the only red clothing I had ever possessed a few months back. At least I had tried to hide it… Surely Betty couldn't have found the only red shirt I owned, that was buried deep in my closet, could she? The red shirt with a… I slowly pulled the fabric and saw part of a pink little heart and a brown little ear.

It was it. It was the shirt _he_ gave me for a Christmas gift; the stupid red shirt with a stupid squirrel on it, holding an acorn with pink little hearts around its head- why didn't she remember that? I was under the impression that she remembered _everything_ , but she couldn't remember the _only_ shirt I had ever gotten from him?

My mind and my heart were racing, but I knew that she didn't pack it to purposely hurt me; maybe she was just stressed. I swallowed the thorns in my throat, messed around in the bag and finally pulled out my jogging pants, and then I decided to wear the shirt I came here with, before I walked out to the living room again to sit down on the couch. Even though the shower had been so relaxing, I felt exhausted after standing in it for so long.

"Becca?" Betty asked behind me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why?" I asked.

"You've been sleeping for one and half hour. I wanted to wake you up to tell you that the styling team will be here in thirty minutes."

Had I been sleeping, sitting up? "I'm up…" I mumbled and sat up straight.

"Didn't I pack a shirt for you?"

"Uhm… yeah, but I don't like that shirt. But this is okay too, I mean…" I said and pulled a little in the white top I was wearing.

"That other one looked comfortable, that's why I packed it. I didn't know that you didn't like it." She waved the matter away. "Anyhow; would you maybe want to check the guest list for me?"

"Sure." I said and received the paper she handed me.

The first people on the list were me, Betty and Brooke, grandma, Uncle Eugene, Zac, Gordon, Irene's parents Dianne and Richard Jones, and her big brother Ian and his fiancé.

Then we had; Irene's aunt and uncle, and one of her cousins with husband and children, and some of her friends.

The Bergers were right underneath them; Charles, Daniella, Luke and Liam. Mayor, Miss Bellum, Ms. Keane (our old kindergarten teacher, who was still a close family friend), Mr. Dresden (the carpenter), and Dainton (who was the best man) were all invited as well.

After them I read four names I didn't know; but I guess that they worked at the Townsville laboratory. If we don't count the tonight's staff, (sixteen of them, the band counted) we were going to be forty people on this wedding, including Professor, Irene and the priest.

The list was short, but neither Professor nor Irene wanted a bigger wedding. He really didn't want to get married in the church or in the Town hall with half the city watching them in person, and the whole world watching them on TV. No, he wanted something small, private and intimate.

I had a serious inner fight about inviting Sam Bailey as my ' _plus one_ '… But in the end I just didn't feel that I wanted to mess with the poor guy anymore. We had separated as friends after the festival, and I didn't want to stir in that soup more than necessary.

…

The calmness around the house was interrupted once the styling team arrived. We all had our makeovers, hair and makeup, and our dresses adjusted to fit our bodies. Betty had already sewed my dress in to fit me better, but she was never satisfied with the result and wanted someone professional to fix that up.

"These seams…" one of the stylists said when he checked my pastel yellow dress, pulled the thin and fragile material it was made of. "They don't look store made."

"That's because… I made them." Betty stammered. She sat on a high chair with a portable makeup table and a big mirror in front of her.

The man that had looked at my dress turned around to look at her. "I can't do anything about this dress. It's already perfect. You have a talent, my friend."

"Wow, I didn't know that you could do that." Brooke said, a little teasingly, but still impressed.

Betty blushed, and her face shone out of pride.

They left Irene for last; she didn't want anyone to see her (except for the styling team) before Professor did. That is so romantic!

 **Blossom**  
Luke and Liam stood outside the gates to the backyard to receive the guests and welcome them, and when the guests got through the gates, my sisters and I showed them where to sit during the ceremony. Thirty five chairs stood in rows, facing the beautiful handmade wooden altar which Townsville's carpenter, Mr. Dresdner, had made as a wedding gift for Professor and Irene. It was extremely detailed; from the carved roses on the top, to the tanned words around them, they said in curvaceous and elegant letters: _The wedding day of John and Irene Utonium, July 19_ _th_ _2010_. Oh, my gosh, the altar was beautiful! I had never seen anything like it.

Professor stood under it, talking to the priest and nodding to the guests. He looked overwhelmed, happy; but once he thought that nobody was looking, he took a deep and nervous breath. He didn't have much time to brace up, though, since all the guests were sitting down in a matter of minutes, and I walked up to him:

"It's time now, dad." I lead him back to the house and into the backdoor and the living room where the rest stood, everyone except for Irene who waited for her turn in Gordon's bedroom downstairs. We all talked for a few minutes, and I checked with them if they knew what to do, before it was finally time. "Okay, Dianne, you go first. Take the first chair to the left in the front."

I opened the door to the backyard again, nodded to the band and stepped aside to let Irene's mother walk down the aisle by herself. The band played a slow and beautiful melody, and once Dianne sat down on the correct chair, I turned around and waved for Professor. Brooke had to physically push him forward and he nervously stumbled on his feet. The priest, Mr. Malone, knew that he was going to lead this group down the aisle, so he already stood by the door, waiting with a patient smile.

"Mr. Malone, Dainton, grandma, take Professor down the aisle, slowly. I love you, dad." I said much calmer with a wide smile.

"Love you, dad." Becca said with tears in her eyes.

"You can do it, Prof." said Brooke, and tried to hide that she was on the verge of crying, but she didn't do a good enough job.

The corner of Professor's mouth trembled, and his eye twitched, but Dainton gave him an encouraging smile and somehow got Professor to walk down the aisle with him and grandma behind the priest. People started whispering, and some had even started to cry.

"Grandma kisses Professor… sits down on the right side… Alright, groomsmen and bridesmaids; let's go!"

To even the number of groomsmen and bridesmaids, Irene had picked out her cousin to walk down the aisle with us. She didn't wear the same dress, but we needed to be an even number. So I walked first with Zac; Irene's first born son, after us walked Gordon; her second son; with Becca, behind them were Liam and Brooke, and last in the lead walked Luke and Irene's cousin.

Before walking down the aisle with Zac, I had imagined myself fantasize that it was my own wedding I attended, that I walked down my _own_ aisle; but that was not the case, when push came to shove. I looked at Dainton who looked back at me with a wide smile, almost as if he was fantasizing that I was the bride, and Professor was the one walking next to me instead of Zac, but all I could think of in that moment was if the flower girl; Irene's cousins six year old daughter; had gotten the right flower basket.

I shook my head once I realized I was staring blankly into the air, and once we reached the altar where Professor was waiting for us, we separated so that the men stood on the left side seen from the guests' perspective, and the women on the right.

Irene's backyard faced the deep forest that cast its green light all over the yard. We were lucky with the weather; the sun shone strong above our heads while several different flowers and other plants tempted with their sweet scent and colors. Everything was just prefect. A few soft breezes from the nearby lake made the firs and the pines sing in the wind.

"Here she comes." Brooke excitedly whispered to my left.

The band started playing the wedding march, the glass double door opened, everyone were holding their breath. I glanced at Professor who looked like he was going to faint any second, and we all just waited. I turned back to the house just as the first guests closest to the doors gasped, and there she was; the bride. Irene was being escorted down the aisle by her father, with the long white _Joemel Lee_ dress I had helped her to pick out a month prior. This was the first time I saw her in it, the first time _anyone_ ever saw her in it (except for the styling team), and it looked just beautiful on her. It was long, yet elegant, and sat perfect on her slim body, strapless, thin and soft. Her makeup was perfect, her blonde hair in a perfect and advanced bun with braids in her neck, and she held the bouquet in her hands like they were the only weights that were keeping her from lifting into the air like a hot air balloon. She looked nervous, but she smiled widely with blood red lips and rosy cheeks.

"She's so beautiful." Becca whispered with a soft sob, and I turned my head to look at Professor again.

His pale and tense facial expression slowly got its color back and turned into heartfelt happiness. A smile played over his lips, his eyes watered and he cleared his throat. It was like the woman in front of him, coming closer, was the most important thing right now, as if nothing else existed. Seeing my dad like this; truly and unconditionally in love, made my heart almost lose it because it was banging so hard inside my chest. I had never seen love that strong before, never witnessed that expression Professor had on his face that day; _that_ was true love, if anything.

It felt like Irene had reached us by the altar much quicker than what I'd expected, and while I wiped a few tears off my cheeks, I smiled wide at her, but it was as if she didn't even see me. Her father kissed her, gave her hand over to Professor who received it with shaky fingers, and walked over to Irene's mother to sit down next to her in the first row.

"Hi." Irene whispered with tears in her eyes, and the biggest smile I had ever seen.

"Hi." Professor whispered back. "You are… I mean, look at you…" he cleared his throat again. "You are the most…" he stopped himself just before he started to cry; it was like he needed to keep his mouth shut to control himself.

Irene blushed, but she kept eye contact with him. "Why, look who's talking." she teased him. "Finding a more handsome man would be like trying to find a needle in a hay stack."

The wedding march stopped, the priest welcomed everyone and Irene gave the bouquet to her cousin, who in last second became her maid of honor. You would think that _I_ would become the maid of honor considering I was the one organizing everything; but I actually told Irene that her cousin should be chosen; I just felt that she needed a little bit more space in the wedding.

The ceremony started, Professor and Irene read their vows, Dainton gave them the rings and then they said their ' _I do_ 's'. It was so beautiful and I cried my eyes out the whole ceremony. I couldn't imagine a better couple than those two! I was so happy for Professor.

After the _I do_ 's, my sisters and I moved the chairs to the edge of the yard, closer to the trees, and carried out the small tables from the garage. The band was now playing some classic love songs, while Becca and Brooke walked around the tables with drinks. Isn't it typical that the bartender was late even though I'd called him three hours ago to check if he was going to be on time? Well, he was late, nonetheless, so we had to improvise.

When all the guests sat and mingled, drinks in their hands, by the tables, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, the best man and the newlyweds, walked over to the edge of the yard with a view over the lake. The photographer wanted to take the 'after ceremony' photos. We all looked so cute; the bridesmaids (except for Irene's cousin) had pastel yellow, almost golden, long dresses, and the groomsmen had pastel blue vests and matching pants, with pastel yellow ties. Irene wore the beautiful _Joemel Lee_ gown, and Professor had a pastel yellow vest and a matching pastel blue tie underneath his black jacket. I was, of course, the one who had picked out the clothes.

"Wanna dance with me later?" Dainton whispered next to me, he looked insanely handsome in that light blue vest with a white shirt underneath.

"Gladly."

The food was ready, and the groomsmen started to act like waiters; the caterers were going to take their place just after they'd finished up in the kitchen, but Dainton and the gang didn't contradict. The bartender opened the portable bar next to the wall of the house, and the band continued playing love songs.

It was a calm and genial attitude through the meal, and when everybody was full, Professor and Irene cut the wedding cake. They fed each other one piece each, and Professor looked at Irene mischievously.

"Oh, no, you don't." she warned him. "Not in this face."

He only pretended that he was going to shove the cake in her face, but of course he didn't. Though he had a playful nature; he didn't want to mess Irene's makeup up, considering it took one and a half hour putting it on.

 **Professor**  
This was, hands down, the best day of my life. There I stood, next to my _wife_ , feeding her a piece of _wedding cake_ , on our _wedding day_. I remembered the first time I saw her, in the Townsville laboratory on Valentine's Day. She had tried to get my attention all night without me being aware of it. And look at us now! It was 'only' five months ago, but it felt like it was yesterday, _and_ like we've known each other our whole lives. It was like time didn't play by its own rules when it came to me and Irene, like the time just flew by _and_ stood still at the same time. And now she stood here next to me, smiling at me. Me! She loved _me_ , she wanted to marry _me,_ and nobody else.

Around six o'clock, after the meals and the cake, people wanted to dance, so I asked the girls to move the tables and chairs away so that the guests would have more space. Irene lead me out on the wooden dance floor the girls had installed in a matter of seconds; now let's see the results from that dancing class that I took.

"Just follow me." Irene whispered and winked. Oh, she was up for a surprise.

"No, _you_ follow _me_." I whispered back with a smug smile, and I was actually not that bad.

 **Bubbles**  
I had already danced one time with Gordon, and one time with Zac, but now I felt too exhausted to even stand up anymore; so I sat down by one of the tables closest to the rickety fence in the outskirts of the woods. I looked down on my yellow dress we bought for the wedding; it was very pretty and flowed perfectly down my body, thanks to Betty, even though my belly only grew. I patted the bulge on the dress.

"Are you having fun in there?" I asked the twins I had yet to meet. "It's your grandfather's wedding day, and you will see all the photos once you're big enough. It's a beautiful world out here and I just can't wait for you to see it for yourselves."

The thought struck me that it was the first time I talked to them, and it felt like my heart grew twice the size. These were _people_ inside of me. People with their own brains, hearts and feelings, and I was the one to show them how life worked.

My sudden realizations on life were interrupted by Brooke, who sat down across to me and lit the candle between us with the laser beam from her eyes. "It's not really dark outside, but I love candles." She mumbled, partly to herself. "How are you? Are you tired?" she had been more engaged in my life now than what she had ever been before; it was like she was growing up or something.

"Yes, I'm tired, but it's not a problem. I just needed to sit down for a while." I replied. "Done dancing?"

"Liam has no idea what he is doing – it's almost like he has two left feet, you know?" she chuckled and looked over to him, and in the same second, as if he _felt_ that she was looking, he turned around and raised his glass to her with a wide smile on his face.

"You seem like you're getting along well."

"We're friends." Brooke shrugged. "He's easy to handle once you know him."

"Do you, I mean…" I said in a low voice. "Do you think that you will get back together some day?"

Brooke turned her face to her lap and smiled, with a wrinkle between her eyebrows. "No." she chuckled again and looked back at me. "I really don't think so, Becca. I think that we're better off as friends."

"Don't you miss him?"

"Of course I do." She looked like she was thinking about how to fraise herself. "But it's, like… I'm not the problem. It feels more like he's used to being just friends with me now. We have something great going on, and I don't want to ruin it."

We were silent for a minute while watching the dancing people on the dance floor. Betty was dancing with Dainton, Professor with Irene, Gordon with one of his mother's friends and Charles with Daniella. Everybody looked so happy.

"What are their names going to be, by the way?

"What?" I had no recognition of what we were talking about anymore.

"The twins. Do you have any names in store?"

"Oh. I don't have a name for the girl yet, but I think that I want to name the boy George."

"Like grandpa?"

"Yeah. Though I never had the chance to meet him, I know that he was a great man." If any of the stories grandma had told us were true, then I am most certain that I would've loved my grandpa with all my heart.

"He would be proud. Professor too." Brooke smiled.

"I think so too." I smiled back.

The sun started to set around seven, so Betty and Brooke flew around the trees and lit all the lanterns we had been hanging in the trees around the garden.

 **Blossom**  
Half past eight, when the families with the kiddies started to go home, Irene went to the corner of the yard with her back turned to us. The men pressed themselves against the wall to the house and the women (except for Brooke who refused to participate in this game) laughed expectantly and excitedly – it was time to throw the bouquet. Irene turned around one last time to smile viciously at us girls and then looked forward again, bent her knees, and then flung the bouquet using both hands, over her shoulder towards the group of women. But since she couldn't aim properly, it flew in the wrong direction and landed in front of Brooke's feet.

"Take it!" I shouted to her as Irene's cousin and two of her and Professor's colleagues from the lab, started jogging towards her.

Brooke just sighed, picked up the bouquet and threw it towards the group of excited women again; but she threw it too hard, so it landed in Dainton's arms instead, who stood by the house with the other men.

People started clapping their hands; the flowers just did _not_ want to play with the rest of us today, and when I flew to Dainton he said: " _We_ caught the bouquet."

Once the families went home and everybody calmed down, I sat down by a table with Dainton and Luke. We had been chatting back and forth for a bit, but when the boys started to talk about their computer games, I just had to interrupt them somehow.

"Where is your ' _plus one'_ , Luke?" I asked him quickly.

"My what?" Luke asked.

"She wants to know if you brought a date." Dainton explained and rolled his eyes, as if he thought that I was meddling too much. But he threw me a smile to show that he wasn't serious.

"Well… I'm here alone, aren't I?" Luke said and shrugged.

"But I thought-"

"So what did you say about that weapon you found in the shack?" Dainton cut me off, and started up the conversation about their game again. While Luke explained his game journey down to every little detail, Dainton mouthed to me: "Stop. He told me in confidence."

"Okay, sorry." I mouthed back with an apologetic smile.

I continued my boring look around on the guests. Becca sat by another table in front of ours with grandma and Mayor, and Brooke stood by the bar with Liam and talked to the bartender. Of course they didn't drink alcohol, the bartender was a friend to Liam and that's why we hired him. I kept looking… and looking… then I spotted something strange by the fence gates that stood open.

My heart dropped, my stomach filled with ice, my legs feeling numb.

I quickly turned back to Becca to ensure that she hadn't noticed the uninvited guest by the gates that literally stared at her, and then casually, but internally panicking, jogged towards Brooke by the bar. "Distract Becca, I will get him away-" I whispered with hysteria in my voice, but when she saw who I was referring to, her face fell emotionless, and cut past me. "Brooke!"

 **Buttercup**  
It took me a split second before I stood in front of him by the gates; he hadn't noticed me yet because of my super speed, but once I grabbed the front of his shirt and flew up in the air and over the woods; his face drastically turned white. He knew what was up, and he was terrified.

I dropped him before I had landed in the middle of the woods, and he fell seven feet before he hit the ground.

"HOW DARE YOU SHOW UP HERE!?" I screamed, and turned around to face him, the thin fabric on my dress swirling around me in the motion.

Leo tried to sit up; he tried to back away from me, but couldn't focus his eyes on anything at the moment. He fell to his back several times, as if he was disoriented after the fast flight.

 _As if_.

His clothes were dirty, hair tangled, almost in dread locks, and he literally had beard on his face. Actual. Beard. He looked like a hobo, or a back packer who hadn't slept for weeks, and he looked skinnier now than what he did a few months back.

My insides boiled out of rage, and he finally found his voice to mumble: "Calm down… please." He managed to turn around, and threw up on the ground.

Leo realized that he was in the hands of the wrong Powerpuff girl, and he was disorientated from the flight; humans weren't used to the g-force I exposed him to.

"I could kill you, just imagining you ruining Professor's wedding!" I growled. "How dare you show your face now that Becca had finally forgotten about you? Oh, I've been looking forward to this…" I grabbed his shirt again with my left hand, lifted him up so that his feet were dangling inches from the ground, and charged my right fist to punch his teeth out.

"Brooke!" I had heard her coming, but hoped that I was going to have time to hit him at least once before she could stop me. I turned around to look at Betty. "Let… him… go." She articulated. "Now!"

I dropped him.

Betty walked up to me with anger in her face. "Don't you understand that you could've killed him?" she wheezed through clenched teeth. I glanced at Leo who had turned green and looked like shit; he threw up again, as if he was proving her point. "Go back to the wedding. I'll take care of this. Brooke!" she snapped my attention from Leo. "Go. Now."

I didn't want to just let this go, but I had to go if I didn't want to lose my control again… for Professor. I threw another hate filled glare at Leo before lifting from the ground, and then I flew back to the wedding.

"Where did you go?" Liam asked when I joined him by the bar again.

I glanced over at Becca, who was chatting with Mayor and grandma, and said in a whisper: "Come… I need to tell you something."

 **Blossom**  
"So…" I said out loud and began pacing in front of Leo who still sat on the forest floor. I determined that he was in no overhanging danger, only a little nauseous still. "What are you doing around these parts of Washington, if I may ask?"

Leo tried to focus his eyes on me. "To be honest… I didn't know about the wedding." He swallowed a burp, and then wiped a piece of food off of his beard. It was so strange seeing Leo like this, after so many months, and hearing his voice again. "I remembered that Zac lived there, and that is everything I know."

"You mean… you didn't even come back for Becca?" I asked, disgusted. He had still been on the run, but instead of finding a hiding place at his old friend's house, he ran into Brooke and me. "Asshole!"

"Please, let me explain." He pleaded, and started to stand on groggy legs.

"There is nothing to explain." I told him, with low eyebrows. "There are no excuses. Becca told you she was pregnant and you left. As simple as that! And you come back after three months – _Three_. _Months_ – and when you show up again, you're not even here to look for her!"

"Just let me explain. Please."

"Well?"

Leo stumbled for a bit, and then fell down on the ground again; still dizzy from the flight. He leaned against a tree and looked straight into my eyes when he continued: "I came back to find Zac, yes, but I only needed a place to sleep tonight. I was going to Townsville first thing tomorrow morning. I swear. I only needed a place to get my strength back… and to clean up. I mean, look at me."

I didn't care about his explanation. "You're disgusting." I whispered. I don't think that I have ever felt this mad before; not even when I thought that Dainton was cheating on me. I wanted to do just about anything to erase all of this; I never wanted Becca to know that Leo had been this close to her. "Pathetic."

"Don't you think that I already know that?!" Leo shouted with shiny eyes, and I reacted to his tone. "I know that I'm a fucking idiot! A loser! I freaked out, and I ran. I know! I'm a pathetic fucking coward…" he buried his face in his hands, his tangled hair falling down. "It doesn't matter how much you and Brooke hate me…" he mumbled into his palms. "… There's no one – _no one_ – that hate me more than I do."

"I can think of a person that hates you more than you do."

"I know…"

My brain worked on full speed as I tried to find a solution to this problem. Eventually I walked closer to him, and crouched down in front of him so that we could look at each other. "This is what we're going to do." I said in a soft voice. He looked up from his hands; a little light was lit in his gaze, the light of hope. "You will never come back again. Becca won't ever find out that you've been this close to her. You won't turn up in school, or anywhere around Townsville or Forestville. Keep hiding from us, as far away from my family as possible." The light in his eyes slowly darkened, until it extinguished. He just stared at me with round eyes, and I stood up on my feet. "I have never killed before… but next time I won't save you from Brooke, you know. Am I clear?"

Without waiting for an answer I kicked from the ground and flew back to the wedding.

 **Bubbles**  
At nine thirty p.m. the limousine stopped outside the house and all the guests gathered around it. The door to the house opened and we all started to throw rice at Professor and Irene who ran down the driveway, and took cover in the limousine. They rolled down the windows to say good bye, and we all waved as the limo left with the "Just married" text on the back window, and the tin cans rattling behind it. Now the limousine driver was going to take them to the airport where they would get on the first plane that was going to take them to Fiji where their honey moon started. They were only going to be there for a couple of days, and then they would cruise around the seas for over a month.

It wasn't a secret that we were… rich… since our Professor was one of the greatest scientists that have ever existed, because, you know; he pulled three super heroes almost out of thin air. We just loved our old house in Townsville, and that's why we never even thought about moving to a bigger place before we met Irene. These next few weeks, though, while Professor and Irene were going to be away on their honey moon, my sisters and my new brothers and I, were going to stay home and make sure that the renovation of our new house in Forestville will go as planned.


End file.
